


Room 307

by Puntrest



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Sexual Content, Werewolf!Danny, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-04 08:07:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3025445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puntrest/pseuds/Puntrest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone is attacking the students of Silas University, and freshman Laura Hollis is determined to uncover the truth; starting with her new roommate. Coincidentally, she's not the only one on the hunt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Picturesque Styria

Muddy shoes crunched against the icy grass, chasing after a long shadow they’d never catch. The pacing figure, face hidden in the shadows beneath a jacket hood, stopped just short of the forest’s edge. The night air was harsh and cold. The figure’s quick, white puffs of breath dissipated into the breeze. A few dark clouds shrouded the sky as the wind picked up, the rustling of a million leaves overpowering the sounds of quiet forest creatures and the not so distant campus of Silas University. The full moon, in all its bright glory, finally showered the land with light as a stray cloud drifted away. The figure looked up at the moon, the jacket hood falling back to reveal fair skin and fiery red hair. A shiver ran down her spine. Eyes of electric blue widened, pupils dilating. She darted into the forest, her feet carrying her down the familiar path with agile ease.

—

By mid-morning, Silas was bustling with activity. The sun was shining, the weather was nice, and the first day of classes for the spring semester was upon them. Students were out and about; lounging in the grass with their books, picnicking with snacks, tripping over those less fortunate—

“Sorry!” Laura Hollis tossed a weak apology over her shoulder at the boy she had nearly mowed over in her rush to the freshman dormitories. She’d been a clumsy mess all morning, partly due to her excitement for the start of classes, but mostly due to the official University notice she had clutched in her hands.

 _Today is the day_ , she thought to herself. _Today is the day I finally get a new roommate_.

Her previous roommate, a snobby girl named Betty, hadn’t been the best at fulfilling Laura’s dreams of having the complete university experience. For one, she had up and disappeared halfway through the first semester. No goodbyes, no notes, no ‘you should still add me on my social networking sites so we can stay connected’ farewells. She just packed her bags and hit the road.

Laura had been expecting a much different first roommate. Ideally, the two of them would have quickly bonded over shared interests. Then, once an established connection was made, they would become friends; eventually and inevitably progressing into being best friends. They would stay up late gossiping, studying, and talking about all of the worldly adventures they couldn’t wait to go on. They’d move off campus together, their friendship able to withstand any and all tribulations thrown their way. They’d find significant others, another pair of best friends in order to ensure fun double dating opportunities. The summer after graduation, they’d all go backpacking across Europe. Laura wasn’t entirely sure what exactly backpacking across Europe entailed, but it sounded like just the sort exciting worldly adventure two freshly graduated best friends would go on.

Unfortunately, Betty did not live up to her expectations.

 _But this one will be different_. Laura smiled as she slid her key into the door of Room 307. _This one will be the roommate I always dreamed of_.

Nearly stumbling into the room, bursting with optimistic excitement, Laura skidded to a full stop at the sight of a stranger making Betty’s bed—or rather, her own bed. The girl was strikingly beautiful, with flawless porcelain skin and a strong jawline. Her sense of style was intimidatingly edgy; it was a bit too alternative for Laura’s tastes, but she had to admit that the girl could pull off the look. Her eyes, so dark they appeared black, watched Laura with a surprising intensity. A weird feeling pulsed through Laura, something that she could only describe as an instinctual reaction. There was something off about the girl standing before her, Laura could feel it in the very core of her being.

That girl was dangerous.

Laura’s cheeks burned as she realized she’d been doing nothing but standing in the doorway and staring for far too long. “Oh, um, hi! I didn’t think you’d be here so early.” She closed the door before extending her hand. “I’m Laura. You must be Carmilla?”

“Must be.” She muttered, ignoring Laura’s outstretched hand and returning to the process of making her bed.

Not one to be easily discouraged, Laura dropped the rejected handshake and pressed on. “So…is this your first semester at Silas?”

“Nope.” She tossed her pillows onto the half-heartedly made bed.

“Did you live off-campus last semester?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, so you just requested a room change or something?”

Carmilla whipped around to face her. “What’s with all the questions, Cupcake?”

Laura gulped. Eye contact with this girl was exceptionally difficult to maintain. “What, I can’t ask questions?”

Carmilla stepped forward, her boots heavy on the wood flooring. A small smirk formed at the corner of her lips. “If you insist on asking questions, I’m going to start asking some of my own.”

“Well, that _is_ typically how two strangers get to know each other.” Laura chuckled, her attempt at humor falling short.

“You’re not going to like my questions.” Carmilla moved to begin unpacking the last of her boxes. The entire thing seemed to be filled with nothing but books.

Laura took a seat on her bed. “How could you possibly know what kind of questions I prefer? You know nothing about me.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “I know exactly what kind of person you are.” She stopped unloading books long enough to gesture to Laura’s side of the room. “You’re the kind of person that likes sappy romantic comedies, the kind of person that has a ‘save the whales’ button sitting next to a trash can full of recyclables, the kind of person who hangs up a Harry Potter poster by their bed. You’re not that hard to figure out, Hufflepuff.”

“I am so not a Hufflepuff. Which, by the way, there is nothing wrong with being. It’s just that I am much more suited for the Gryffindor house.” Laura crossed her arms, embarrassed that she still hadn’t gotten around to getting a recycling bin for the room. “And so what, I like a good rom-com every once in a while. There’s no harm in that.”

“Whatever you say, Cutie.” Carmilla placed the last of her books away, kicking the cardboard box aside.

Laura dropped her arms to her lap, her foot tapping vigorously over the edge of the bed. “So, what, you don’t want to get to know the person you’re going to be living with for the rest of the semester?”

After kicking off her boots and plopping down on her bed with a battered book in hand, Carmilla replied, “Maybe I’m just not feeling particularly chatty at the moment.”

Confused, insulted, and far more intrigued than she’d care to admit, Laura decided that she’d had enough of her new roommate for one morning. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

One perturbed stroll around campus later, Laura stumbled across her floor don Perry and the biology major LaFontaine sitting on a bench in the courtyard. The pair of childhood best friends had become good pals of Laura’s during her first semester at Silas. They’d offered her guidance and reassurance after the Betty debacle, had helped her survive her first ever finals week, and had been some of the few Silas students that had even bothered to give her the time of day.

“You are not going to believe this.” Laura announced, interrupting their conversation as she squeezed between them.

“You’re right, definitely cannot believe this.” LaFontaine muttered, patting the small jewelry box in their pants pocket. Apparently, all things must wait for Laura Hollis, including any sort of ‘Perry-I-love-you-please-be-my-girlfriend’ presents.

“What is it now, Laura?” Perry asked, oblivious to LaFontaine’s previous intentions.

“Well.” Laura sucked in a deep breath. “My new roommate, Carmilla the gothic hipster, is _the actual worst_. She’s rude, she’s got this mysterious brooding thing going on, and she all but mocked my Harry Potter poster! I tried to have a genuine conversation with her, but she doesn't even want to get to know me. She’s completely gorgeous, but in a really intimidating kind of way. And there’s just something really weird about her, something not right. My gut instinct is telling me that she’s trouble.”

LaFontaine placed a hand on Laura’s shoulder. “If I’m remembering correctly, you’re the one who begged for a new roommate. Never, in the history of Silas University, has a student been so adamant about getting a replacement roommate before. You had a dorm room all to yourself for half a semester, and all you did was complain about it. Now, you finally get a roommate, and you change your mind after the first day? Frosh, you’re impossible.”

Perry chimed in. “LaFontaine is right, Laura. You wanted the full experience, well, here it is. Most randomly assigned roommates don’t get along, it’s a fairly common thing.”

“I guess.” Laura groaned. “But my gut is never wrong. I’m telling you, she’s bad news.”

After a nice lunch with LaFontaine and Perry, Laura decided to try again with Carmilla. After all, they’d only had one interaction. Carmilla could have just been having a bad day, or maybe Laura had rushed into things a tad bit too fast.

Opening the door to Room 307, Laura found Carmilla in the exact position she’d left her in. The tattered book in her hands hid her face from view, her socked feet crossed at the foot of the bed. Laura closed the door as she set down her bag. Perhaps a peace offering was in order? Grabbing a box of cookies, Laura popped them open and held them out in Carmilla’s direction.

“Would you like one?” She shook the box enticingly.

“I already helped myself, hope you don’t mind.” Carmilla’s voice was smooth with a hint of rasp to it.

“You…what?” Laura’s forearm disappeared into the box before returning with a single cookie in hand. “Why would you eat my food without even asking first? Of course I mind!”

“Whoops.” The sarcasm was dripping from her words. “My bad, Cupcake.”

Laura threw the empty box down. “I have a name, you know.”

“And I have a book to finish.”

“And to think that I came up here to give you a second chance.”

Carmilla peered at her over the top of her book with a curious gaze. “The kind of person who gives second chances, of course.”

“What is your problem?” Infuriated, Laura chucked the last cookie into the garbage. For all she knew, Carmilla could have poisoned the thing. “Why are you being so difficult? Are you completely incapable of being anything other than rude?”

“Looks that way.” The book returned to covering her face.

For the second time that day, Laura collected her things and charged out of her own room.

—

The sun was setting over Silas, the moon already in position and waiting to take over its duties as watcher of the night sky. Carmilla loved sunsets, loved the way the stars slowly became visible where the bright colors faded. Perched on the open windowsill, book in hand, cool breeze on her skin, she felt content. Occasionally, she would stop reading for a moment to watch the people walking by down below. She also kept an eye out for her obnoxious roommate. Carmilla could already tell that despite being such tiny person, Laura Hollis was going to be a major pain in her ass. Glancing to Laura’s side of the room, she grimaced. It was perfectly clean and tidy. The desktop screen, a background picture of Hermione Granger, stared at her with eyes full of judgment and superiority.

A distant howl caught Carmilla’s attention. Her eyes scanned the nearby forest, noting the spot where a flock of birds emerged from the trees. The sun had fallen from view, and soon the night would be fully upon them once more. She shut the window and pulled on her boots with a sigh. It was going to be a long night.

—

The fog was thick across the Silas campus. Each street lamp added an eerie orange glow to the darkness.

“I just don’t understand.” Laura huffed, kicking an oddly shaped rock as she walked.

“Tell Mother Nature how you really feel, Frosh.” LaFontaine joked, giving the same rock a nudge with their shoe.

Perry pursed her lips together. “Well, Laura, I hate to say this, but maybe you’re just not cut out for living with others. A lot of people can’t handle the stress of sharing a living space with someone else, you know.”

“What? No!” Laura exclaimed, her voice filling the empty courtyard. “No, trust me, this has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to live with others.”

“Perr might have point.” LaFontaine shrugged.

Laura shook her head. “You’ll see when you meet her. This girl is freaky intimidating and _so_ full of herself.”

“It’s only been one day. Give her some time, she might warm up to you.” Perry suggested as she stuffed her hands into her coat pockets.

The three of them halted in their tracks at the sound of a blood-curdling scream nearby. Taking off in a run, they rounded the corner of the courtyard to find a motionless body near the edge of the forest. Perry was quick to call for help on her cell phone as Laura and LaFontaine approached the body with caution.

“I know her.” Laura discovered. “Her name’s Sarah Jane. We had a class together.”

Kneeling down, LaFontaine gave a brief examination. “Alive. Breathing. Unconscious. Dirt under nails. There’s a small pool of blood over here, I can’t be certain of the source. I don’t feel confident enough in my limited knowledge of medical procedures to attempt undressing her to find the wound. I believe that the best course of action would be to wait for the proper authorities to arrive.”

“Paramedics are on the way.” Perry announced, her voice shaky in stark contrast to LaFontaine’s highly clinical tone.

Unable to look at the poor girl any longer, Laura decided to search for clues. “Whoever did this probably ran into the forest when they heard us coming, right?”

Perry gasped. “Why are we to assume this wasn't merely an accident? Or an animal?”

As if on cue, a howl echoed in the forest. The three friends shared uneasy glances among themselves. Campus police arrived on the scene shortly after that, followed by the paramedics and a large crowd of curious spectators. Light snow began falling once Laura had finished talking with the authorities. She watched it fall, so peaceful compared to the chaos of flashing lights and hushed whispers. Something caught her eye, and she found herself squinting to see what it was. Down a ways, sneaking out of the forest shadows, was Carmilla.

Laura chased after her without hesitation. She did her best to follow, but Carmilla moved surprisingly fast. She was so caught up in finding which way her new roommate took off in that she nearly ran right into Danny Lawrence.

“Oh, wow. Hey. Sorry, Danny. Didn't even see you there.” Laura stumbled over her words as she looked up at the much taller girl. Though Danny had been her Lit TA, the two of them hadn't actually become friends until they were officially introduced through LaFontaine and Perry. There had been some flirtation, maybe a few almost moments, but in the end it had fizzled out before it had even really begun.

“Uh, hey, Laura.” Danny shifted her weight nervously. There were dark circles under her eyes, the whites of which were streaked with tiny red veins. Only the slightest sliver of blue could be seen around the edges of her remarkably dilated pupils. Laura had never seen anyone look so strung out before. It was more than a little unsettling.

“Danny, you don’t look so good. Are you feeling okay?” She placed her hand on Danny’s forearm. The redhead jerked away from the contact.

“Fine.” She shrugged. “Just tired. Haven’t slept much. Look, I've got to go. We should catch up soon, though.”

“Yeah. I’ll catch you later, I guess.” Laura waited until Danny was out of sight before she took off running again.

She headed straight to the freshman dorms, and to Room 307. Barging in, Laura’s jaw dropped open at what she saw. Carmilla was there, on Laura’s bed, making out with a random girl.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Carmilla deadpanned, causing the girl beneath her to giggle.

“Excuse me, but that’s _my_ bed you’re on!” Laura angrily discarded her bag.

Carmilla sighed before sauntering over to her own side of the room. After smoothing out her clothes, the random girl told Carmilla to call her and promptly made her exit. Laura slammed the door shut behind her. Balling her hands into fists, she turned and marched right up to Carmilla.

“Today has been very weird, very scary, and very confusing.” She pointed a finger at her roommate. “And you've been at the center of everything.”

The smugness practically oozed off of Carmilla. “Oh, do explain, won’t you? I’m ever so curious as to how I am the sole cause for all your little troubles.”

“You hurt that girl, didn’t you?” Laura was just as surprised at her words as Carmilla was. “I saw you coming out of the forest. I saw you! I don’t know how you made it back here so fast, or where you found that random girl, but I know it was you. How could you hurt Sarah Jane like that? Why did you run away and leave her there? Were you _trying_ to kill her?”

Carmilla feigned innocence. “Slow your roll, Creampuff. I didn’t hurt anyone. I don’t even have the faintest idea of what you’re going on about. I've been in this room all night. You could go ask that _random girl_ , but I don’t know if your poor little heart could handle all the dirty details.”

Laura frowned. “My gut instinct was right about you.”

She smirked. “Oh? And what did your all-knowing intestinal instinct tell you about me?”

“That you’re not a good person.” Laura watched as Carmilla’s smirk faded. “Things are getting weird around here, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

—

“Hey, Danny, hold up!” Despite being late for class, Danny stopped to let LaFontaine to catch up to her. “Geez, you walk fast.” LaFontaine paused to catch their breath. “I've been trying to get your attention since you passed by the library.”

“Sorry, I've got class.” Danny explained.

“This’ll only take a second.” LaFontaine promised before launching into an in-depth explanation on how they should properly go about asking Perry on a date. Danny tried to listen, but found her mind wandering. Luckily, she zoned back in just in time to catch her ex-infatuation’s name.

“—and Laura totally screwed up my moment yesterday when I tried to ask Perry out. She wouldn't stop going on and on about her shitty new roommate, Caramel the gothic hamster or whatever. I love that kid, I do, but she has got to learn that not everyone is going to like her.”

“Laura has a new roommate?” Suddenly, getting to class didn’t seem all that important.

“Yeah, and apparently she gives Laura ‘ _bad vibes_ ’.” LaFontaine chuckled. “She’s convinced this new roommate is, like, the actual devil.”

“I've got class. See you.” Danny abruptly turned and walked away. She quickly crossed campus, in the opposite direction of her class, to the freshman dorms. Stopping at the end of Laura’s hall, she spotted a dark haired girl unlocking the door to Room 307. Danny’s brows furrow, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. The girl disappeared inside, leaving Danny alone in the hallway. She shook her head in disbelief.

“No.” She whispered under her breath, unable to move as a flood of mixed emotions rained down on her. “Laura.”

—

The days rolled by swiftly. Laura was busier than ever, both with her classes and with trying to keep tabs on the roommate from hell. Carmilla was exceedingly difficult to live with. She never cleaned, had a habit of taking things before asking, and she was practically nocturnal. She’d stay up late into the night, sometimes until daybreak, but she was always in bed by the time that Laura’s alarm went off. She would typically sleep in until Laura returned from her afternoon classes. Carmilla’s class schedule was a mystery as well. The girl would leave the room for hours on end, but at strange times. She never carried textbooks, never worked on any assignments. All she ever did was read novels and make snarky comments. It was driving Laura insane.

There had been much talk around campus about Sarah Jane the last several days, too. The authorities were keeping the details to themselves, but they had released a few tidbits of information that caused quite a stir. Apparently, Perry had been right. It was an animal that had attacked Sarah Jane, and it was something big enough to leave nasty slash marks across her back. The Silas officials were trying to keep the whole ordeal quiet. They’d offered a promise to ‘look into it’, but everyone knew that the forest wasn't a place to go poking around. Laura didn’t believe the myths and legends about sinister creatures hiding out in those woods, but even she couldn't deny that there was something extremely treacherous about that place.

In Room 307, hovering over a couple of spread out notebooks, Laura glanced at Carmilla. She was reading, like always, but today there was a particularly enthralled look to her. She was captivated by her book, completely disconnected from reality. Laura watched her read; watched her eyes dart from sentence to sentence, watched the way her fingers carefully readied the next page, watched as her lips would hint at a smile every now and then.

Suddenly, Carmilla’s eyes were locked with her own, causing Laura to jump. “You need something, Cupcake?”

“No, I mean, yeah, sort of, or…” Laura groaned as she stumbled over her words. “I, um, I never apologized to you.”

“Apologized?” That certainly got her attention. “For what?”

Laura pushed down her pride. “For accusing you of hurting Sarah Jane. I don’t even know what I was thinking. I thought for sure that I saw you trying to sneak out of the forest, but my friends keep telling me that I was probably just freaking out about finding Sarah Jane like that and I started seeing things. I guess that’s what had to have happened. So, I’m officially apologizing for thinking you had anything to do with her getting hurt.”

Carmilla chewed on her lip. “Apology accepted.”

Laura nodded, letting the conversation end there. She was done trying to talk to Carmilla, done trying to befriend her. It was going to be a long and awkward semester, but if living with a bad roommate was the real university experience, then Laura could handle it.

She picked up one of her notebooks, flipping to a half-full page and scribbling down a few notes. She ran her fingers over the title for the page: Proof My Roommate Is A Psycho Killer.

—

Deep within the forest, Danny sat with her back to a tree. Her tangled hair fell in strands around her face as she picked at the grit beneath her fingernails. Her eyes, glazed over, stared straight ahead.

She felt nothing.

Not the harsh cold of the shadowy forest, not the aching of her bare feet, not the exhaustion from not having had a proper night’s sleep in ages. She sat there, awaiting nightfall, utterly numb. Time moved painfully slow, but eventually the sun left the sky and slivers of moonlight slipped between the trees. The nocturnal creatures slowly awakened as the fog set in.

 _There are two types of people in the world_ , Danny thought. _Those who are afraid of the dark forest, and those who find peace within it_.

Her ear twitched at the sound of approaching footsteps. She craned her neck to see who was coming. The visitor stayed a safe distance away, but held a confident pose.

“I know what you’re going to say.” Danny’s eyes fell to the space between them. “Room 307, right?”

The visitor said nothing.

“Well, we need to do something.” Danny stood, her expression hardening. “Before she hurts anyone else.”


	2. Petrified

Laura awoke in a sweaty panic. Her heart pounded inside her chest as she took in her surroundings. She was alone in Room 307. The first glimpse of daylight had just begun creeping in through the window. Carmilla’s bed was empty, a forgotten book still open beside the pillows.

After downing a glass of water, Laura pulled on her shoes and coat to head out for some fresh air. The halls of her freshman dormitory were empty, as were the foggy campus grounds. She walked along the familiar footpaths and thought about the early morning hikes she used to go on with her father. He’d take her to a meadow—their special place, and they’d watch the sunrise while listening to the birds sing. She smiled at the memories. She missed her dad terribly, and though she called him nearly every day to talk, it just wasn’t the same being so far apart.

“Out for an early morning stroll?”

Laura jumped as Carmilla appeared at her side. “Oh my god.” She clutched at her chest. “You can’t just sneak up on people like that.”

Carmilla’s pace fell in sync with Laura’s. “Maybe if you paid a little more attention to what’s going on around you, people wouldn’t be able to sneak up on you, Princess.”

“I was just enjoying the peace and quiet.” Laura gave her roommate a quick once over. Despite having been out all night, she still looked runway ready. She always looked so effortlessly perfect.

“Lucky you.” Carmilla muttered as she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets.

Laura bit her lip, wondering if she’d regret her next move. “Bad night?”

Carmilla’s gaze was focused straight ahead. “You could say that.”

“What happened?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Did it involve that, um…that girl from the other night? The one you had in my bed?”

“Sorry, Officer, but shouldn’t my lawyer be present during interrogations like this?”

Laura blushed. “Sorry, you don’t have to talk about it.”

“Giving up already?” Carmilla glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “What’s got you all down in the dumps, Cupcake?”

“Homesick, mostly.” Laura shrugged. _And the fact that I’m sharing a room with a potential psychopath_.

Carmilla’s voice took on an unusual tone. One that, dare Laura believe it, sounded like actual concern. “Homesick? For what?”

“Everything.” Laura answered nonchalantly. “My town, my house, my dad…the little adventures we’d go on, waking up to the smell of breakfast, going on a morning jog and greeting all the neighbors as they’d come outside to get their newspapers.” She smiled to herself. “There’s this one old guy, Mr. Hall, he lives a few houses down the block from us. He always walks out in this ridiculous fluffy robe with a cup of coffee in his hand. His hair is always all over the place, his slippers are always mismatched, and half the time he doesn’t even bother to close up his robe and just shows his rubber ducky boxers off to the world. He never looks good in the morning, but he never cares what anyone else thinks. I always kind of wished I could be a little more like Mr. Hall, you know? Just able to walk out the door without caring what anyone else thought of me.”

Carmilla stopped, her eyes fixed on Laura peculiarly. It was almost as if she was trying to figure her out. “What kind of little adventures?”

“What?” Laura missed the question entirely. She was far too enthralled with the way Carmilla was looking at her.

“You and your father.” She clarified. “You said you went on little adventures together.”

“Oh, right, yeah. We did.” Laura nodded enthusiastically, trying to shake the feeling that Carmilla was eyeing her like she was a prime rib. “We’d do fun stuff like hiking, drive around the countryside, feed the ducks down by the lake. It might not sound all that exciting, but it was more about the time we spent together than what we actually did.”

“Sounds, uh—” She cleared her throat. “That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, I always had a great time.” Laura was tempted to ask Carmilla about her parents. What were they like? Did she get along with them? Did they ever go on little adventures with her? But the forlorn expression on Carmilla’s face gave Laura the impression that the answers to her questions wouldn’t be very pleasant.

They walked side by side in silence until they reached Room 307. While Laura immediately began getting ready for the day, Carmilla simply kicked off her boots and crawled into bed. She faced the wall, pulling up the blankets high enough to cover her face.

And for the first time, Laura wondered if maybe her roommate wasn’t totally heartless after all. Maybe she was just lonely.

—

It was a serene Saturday afternoon at Silas. The cafeteria lunch rush had finally died down, giving the spacious building a quaintness about it. LaFontaine and Perry were settled in on the couch by the communal grand fireplace. Its warmth provided just the sort of cozy atmosphere that LaFontaine had been hoping to find.

“You know, Perr, I’ve been thinking…” They trailed off.

Perry watched the fire, unaware of the jewelry box hidden behind LaFontaine’s back. “Thinking of what?”

“Well, thinking about us.” They confessed, cheeks growing red.

“Oh? What about us?”

LaFontaine opened their mouth to respond, but was cut off by the intrusion of the one and only Laura Hollis. “Hey, guys.” They stared at Laura incredulously as Perry greeted her hello. Oblivious to what she had interrupted, Laura took the empty seat beside Perry on the couch, immediately propping her feet up on the coffee table and making herself comfortable. “Want to hear something strange?”

“Sure.” LaFontaine sighed in defeat, sliding the jewelry box back into their pocket. “Tell us something strange.”

Laura grinned. “Carmilla was nice to me this morning.”

“See, what did we tell you!” Perry nudged Laura with her elbow. “She just had to warm up to you, that’s all.”

“It’s so weird. She’s been nothing but rude and inconsiderate for two weeks straight, and then out of nowhere she’s talking to me like a normal human being for a change.” Laura’s grin fell. “But even when she’s being half decent toward me, I still can’t help but feel like she’s up to something.”

LaFontaine shook their head. “You’re way too paranoid.”

Laura ignored the comment. “We still don’t know that she wasn’t somehow involved with what happened to Sarah Jane. I know you both think that I imagined seeing her creeping around the forest that night, but I’m _positive_ that it was really her.”

“Laura!” Perry exclaimed in exasperation. “The authorities clearly stated that it was an animal attack.”

“She could have set the animal loose on Sarah Jane.” Laura suggested.

“Let me get this right.” LaFontaine tried to control their laughter. “You honestly think that your roommate is keeping a dangerous pet in the forest, and that she’s using this pet to attack people for her? Oh, and don’t tell me, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened too, huh?”

From the back of the cafeteria, a tall Zeta by the name of Wilson Kirsch barreled in through the doors. Cradled in his arms was a bloody, seemingly lifeless body. “Someone call for help!” He screamed. “I think she’s dead!”

LaFontaine grew pale. “Enemies of the heir beware.” They looked back to Laura. “That means you, Frosh.”

—

Tucked into her favorite secluded corner of the library, Carmilla flipped lazily through a history textbook. She was more interested in the pictures than the words. All history books said the same things, from the same boring points of view, but the pictures could speak for themselves. A photo from the World War I era caught her interest. The people being photographed looked so dignified, so important. Who had they been? The caption merely stated that the pair of gentlemen featured were successful businessmen, but a person’s career meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. She ran her finger across the picture, over their smiling faces and their nice suits. Were they kind hearted? Charitable? Funny? Were they cruel? Spiteful? Vindictive? Did they love their families? How did they treat their wives? Their kids? Their dogs? Did they enjoy dancing? What type of art was their favorite? What topics did they stay up late discussing with their fellow gentlemen? Politics? Sports? World issues? The fate of the human race?

Hushed whispers from close by broke her concentration. She considered putting in headphones to drown them out, but then a certain name caught her attention.

“Danny Lawrence and _Laura Hollis_? How did that ever work?”

“I said they were _almost_ a thing. Keep up, would you? Anyway, have you seen Danny lately? She’s looking rough.”

“No, I haven’t seen her since before the holidays.”

“The Summer Society girls think she’s become some kind of an addict. They’re planning an intervention and everything.”

A gasp. “What’s she hooked on?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not good. Apparently she’s been skipping out on classes, hasn’t been to a single Summer Society meeting since before break, and she doesn’t even go to the parties on campus anymore. She’s turned into a total recluse. No one really knows what’s up with her.”

“Maybe she’s depressed. My cousin was depressed. He had to go see a psychiatrist, it was a big deal.” A pause. “Someone should try talking to her.”

“I’m sure the Summer Society is all over it.”

“Yeah, I guess. That’s so sad. I hope they help her work through this. Danny was always really nice to me. Remember that Zeta mixer two years ago? The one I got super trashed at, and Brian kept trying to get me to go upstairs with him? Danny’s the one who gave him a black eye and helped me get back to my room.”

“Brian from the Alchemy Club?”

“Yeah, but the brunette one. The blonde Alchemy Club Brian is the one who got caught trying to drill a hole into the girls’ locker room by the track field.”

“I never knew that was him.” Pause. “I thought it was that creepy guy James?”

“No, James is the one who tried to force Abigail to—”

“No, Abbie’s was with Dave, James was with—“

Carmilla slipped her headphones in, turning the volume up until her eardrums hurt. Staring at the pair of gentlemen in the photograph, she wondered what the odds were that one of them was named Brian or James or Dave.

 _Evil is everywhere_ , she decided as she slammed the textbook shut. _Especially where you least expect it_.

—

“Hey, little hottie.” Kirsch tapped his knuckles across the open door to Room 307. “I heard you wanted to talk to me?”

Laura jumped to her feet. “Yes! Yes, please, come in. Sit.” She closed the door behind him, watching as he took a seat at her desk chair.

“LaFontaine said it was urgent?” He raised a brow.

“Yes, very urgent. Thanks for coming, by the way.” She grabbed her notebook, sitting across from him on her bed.

“This is about the girl from yesterday, right?”

“It is, yeah. I hope you don’t mind?”

He shrugged. “I thought it would be. But, hey, I’ll tell you what I told everyone else: I didn’t see what happened to her.”

Laura readied her pen. “If it’s okay, could you go through the order of events for me?”

“Sure. Well, I was walking to the gym, you know, going to get some afternoon reps in, and I heard this really awful screaming. I ran as fast as I could, but by the time I got there the animal had run off into the forest.”

“The animal?” Laura questioned. “You know for a fact that it was an animal attack?”

“That’s what the police said it was.” He blinked. “Anyway, after that I picked her up and carried her into the cafeteria. Then we waited for an ambulance to show, but she was gone before they could help her.”

“You don’t remember anything else? No other witnesses, nothing suspicious around where you found her?”

“Well…” He shifted in the chair. “There is this one thing. I tried to tell the cops about it, but they kind of blew it off.”

“You can tell me.” Laura encouraged.

“When I found her, I felt like I was being watched.” He lowered his voice. “It was intense. Like, my fight or flight reflex kicked in and everything. That’s why I grabbed her and ran. I didn’t want to stick around and chance that thing coming back.”

“Did the police say anything to you? Did they mention what kind of animal could have done this?”

“No, but word around campus is that it’s a bear or some kind of rogue wolf. Whatever it is, you won’t find me hanging around the forest anytime soon. Hey, you should interview Sarah Jane. I bet she’d be way more helpful than me.”

“Sarah Jane?” Laura nearly dropped her notebook. “She’s back? Already?”

“Oh yeah, I totally just saw her the other day.” He assured. “Been resting up, recovering. Her room is practically right above yours, you know.”

Laura stood. “Show me.”

After leading her to Sarah Jane’s room and introducing the two of them, Kirsch bid his farewells. Laura was glad, as her pursuit of the truth was a very pressing matter.

“I don’t remember much.” Sarah Jane confessed. She leaned against her bed while Laura stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Sarah Jane’s roommate ignored them both, with headphones on and eyes glued to her laptop screen. “But there are a few things.”

Laura tried to give a reassuring smile. “Anything helps.”

She nodded, taking a seat on the bed’s edge. “I don’t know how I ended up by the forest. The last thing I can remember is heading to dinner, but that was hours beforehand. I do remember a few small things. The police told me that I probably just dreamed it all up...” She let out a shaky breath. “But I remember hearing a voice. A girl’s voice. She kept whispering things to me.”

“A girl’s voice?” Laura stopped writing in her notebook. “What did she whisper?”

“I only remember bits and pieces. Something about a sacrifice, something about ‘ _feeding the beast’_.”

“Feeding the beast.” Laura repeated the words slowly. She pulled out her phone and opened a candid snapshot of Carmilla sleeping. She’d taken it during the first week of classes, as a precaution. “Just by chance, does this girl look familiar to you at all?”

Sarah Jane inspected the photo. “Isn’t that your creepy roommate?”

“Creepy?” Laura perked up. “What makes you say that?”

“She just has a sort of dark aura, don’t you think?”

“I know right! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people.”

Sarah Jane abruptly handed the phone back. “Sorry, Laura, but I think I need to rest. I’m not feeling so great all of a sudden.”

“Oh, of course. Get all the rest you need.” Laura headed for the door. “And thanks, again, for talking with me.”

“No problem. I hope you find some answers.” She paused. “And, hey, Laura?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful out there.”

Laura returned to Room 307 with a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach. If Sarah Jane really had heard a girl’s voice during the attack, could it have been Carmilla’s? Could her roommate really, actually, truly be a killer psychopath? Sure, there was a whole page of scribbled notes about this exact subject in her possession, but the reality of what she was accusing Carmilla of being was finally starting to dawn on her.

But why would Carmilla attack Sarah Jane? Why would she kill the girl that Kirsch found? Why make it look like an animal attack? Then again, why do sociopaths do anything?

Laura felt uneasy looking at Carmilla’s side of the room. There were so many things that just didn’t add up. How could someone so disorderly manage to cover her tracks so well? Was being messy just part of her diabolical scheme to hurt other people? The girl was so disorganized; her bed was a mess, clothes were on the floor, and dirty dishes lined the bed’s headboard. This was the kind of person who’d been too lazy to throw out a weeks old container of soy milk.

 _The soy milk_.

Laura wasn’t usually the type to go snooping around other people’s belongings, but desperate times did call for desperate measures. She opened the fridge, pulling out the soy milk container with the word ‘MINE’ written across the label in sharpie. It was the perfect hiding place, right out in the open. Laura wasn’t really sure what she was hoping to find. Poison? Trophies from her victims? She popped open the tab and took a peek at the contents within. The container nearly slipped from her grasp. Her stomach lurched as the smell hit her nose. Thick, red blood sloshed around inside.

—

Danny sat in the middle of her room, hugging her knees to her chest. The only sound was her breathing and the light tap of bare feet against the wood flooring as she rocked back and forth. There were dark bags under eyes, her hair was matted with clumps of dirt, and a series of scratches could be seen along her forearms. She’d had a nasty battle with a thorn bush the previous evening, and, well, the thorn bush had certainly won that round.

She would cry, if she could. But she’d run out of tears some time ago. Now she was left with nothing but quivering lips and a sting in her eye.

Without warning, she was up on her feet. Her senses were aware of a disturbance before she could even process what was happening. Her body entered a pose of defense, a low growl emitted from her throat. But then, as a clear as day, there it was. She sniffed the air and recognized the distinct scent immediately: an overwhelming concoction of vanilla shampoo, cheap laundry detergent, and dollar store chocolate chip cookies.

Danny rushed out of her room, almost knocking over a passing student in her haste to follow the trail. She ran out of the residence hall, wildly searching the campus grounds for any sign of Laura Hollis. Her bare feet carried her away from the crowds, away from the campus, away from any prying eyes. The forest stared at her, and she stared right back at it. Swallowing hard, unsure of what she might encounter, she entered the shadows.

The scent was easy to track here. Less human smells, less distractions. A bright color caught her eye. She approached it cautiously, getting only as close as she needed to. It was a yellow pillowcase draped across a mossy log, she discovered. Laura’s yellow pillow case.

Understanding dawned on her just before a figure stepped out from behind a nearby tree. It was Carmilla, and she looked exceptionally smug. Danny snarled as the primal urge to attack filled every fiber of her being. Her hands shook, each finger begging to let its claw grow free. Her toes curled into the thick dirt. Her eyes narrowed, pupils growing. An actual whine slipped past her gritted teeth, her jaw locked firmly in place. She wanted so badly to let go of everything, to let the beast inside her take hold. But, either from tremendous willpower or plain old stubbornness, she held her shit together.

Danny pointed to the pillowcase. “Where is she?”

Carmilla leaned casually against the tree. “Off being insufferably upbeat somewhere, I’m sure. We just needed to have a little chat, the two of us. I figured this would get your attention.”

“ _A chat_?” Danny tried to keep her cool, but suppressing thousands of years’ worth of instinct was no walk in the park.

Carmilla nudged the pillowcase with the tip of her boot. “It’s about her.”

Danny stared at the yellow fabric, remembering a time when she had felt it against her cheek. More than once she’d slept over in Room 307, using the empty bed that Laura’s first roommate had deserted. They’d had fun, both as potential lovers and as friends. Laura had always been so kind, so innocent.

Tears that would never fall stung at her eyes. She took in a deep, calming breath.

“I’m listening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	3. Paranoia

“I’ll admit, it is a little suspicious.” LaFontaine held the soy milk container at arm’s length.

“A little suspicious?” Laura balked. “This is a clear sign that she’s behind everything!”

LaFontaine shrugged. “We don’t know for sure what this is. I can run some tests, find out if it’s human or if it’s even real. It’ll take a few days, though.”

“A few days? She could attack someone else in that time.” Laura chewed nervously on her fingernails. Ever since her hunch had been right about the soy milk container, she’d been desperately trying to clue everything together. “Sarah Jane was lucky to get away alive. That second girl—“

“Scarlett.” They supplied.

“Right, Scarlett, she wasn’t so lucky. Who’s to say that the next victim won’t be like Scarlett?”

“Why are we assuming there’s going to be another victim?”

“Are you kidding me? We’re obviously dealing with a crazy serial killer here.” Laura snatched the soy milk container from their hands and shook it as proof.

“One murder isn’t a serial killing.” LaFontaine explained. “Technically, there’d have to be at least three in a row before we could even begin to classify this as—“

Laura flailed her arms. “ _LaFontaine_! This is not the time for technicalities.”

“You sound like my mother.” They frowned. “Actually, you sound like Perry. Speaking of her, I need to talk to you about something. You see, lately I’ve been trying to…well, to ask Perry out. And every time I finally get up the courage to do it, you ruin it.”

“Me?” Laura stopped short. “What did I do?”

LaFontaine shrugged. “You have the curse of exceptionally bad timing.”

Laura let out an exasperated sigh as she slumped down on to her desk chair. “That’ll be on my tombstone by the end of the week. ‘ _Laura Hollis. Beloved daughter and friend. Had really bad timing._ ’”

“Your roommate isn’t going to kill you.” LaFontaine gestured to Carmilla’s bed. “I’ve never even seen her. Are you sure she’s actually real?”

Laura grimaced. “Oh, she’s real. Go take a look at the giant black hairball sitting in the shower drain.”

LaFontaine perked up. “Hey, do you think I could grab a hair sample out of that?”

—

Carmilla glared at the archaic ticking clock on the wall. She willed the tiny second hand to move faster, but, if anything, it only seemed to move even slower. She tried to find something else to pass the time staring at, but there wasn’t much to choose from. The instructor was in full tangent, but she didn’t care. The class was pointless. She’d taken it all before. Hell, she’d lived it. The other students weren’t any fun either. There was a fairly cute girl at the front, but the ring on her finger zapped any potential there. Two Zeta bros in the corner were comically snoozing against each other, but even that grew boring after a while.

She found herself doodling on the flimsy desk, her train of thought going an adventure. She daydreamed about the centuries of travel and experience she had under her belt. Seeing cities like Paris, Amsterdam, and London. Her brief visits to the United States, her time in Brazil, the hazy stupor of a year she’d spent in Mexico. That time she got lost in Tokyo, the day she’d seen the Berlin Wall, the jealous girl that almost killed her in Johannesburg. She’d been all over the world, seen so much culture and beauty. But she always came home. Each time that she vowed to never return, Styria drew her back in with its magnetic hold on her. She never knew why she felt the need to return, but she always did.

It wasn’t like she had family to come home to. They were all dead and gone. Her mother—the one who cursed her with immortality, not the one buried in Saint Mark’s—wasn’t really what she’d consider to be family. Sure, she received the title of mother, but it lacked all sentiment. It was strict, harsh. Words like overlord or enforcer could easily take its place.

Her mother never called for her to return, but she never had to. Whether Carmilla was gone for years or for decades, she always came back to Styria in the end. And her mother was always there, waiting with the newest grocery list of things to kill or ancient artifacts to find. And the strangest part, other than her complete inability to stay away for good, was that she actually did the things asked of her. All of them, no matter what they were. She didn’t owe her mother anything, she didn’t owe _anyone_ anything, and she damn sure could stop doing that wretched bitch’s bidding if she wanted to. If she really, _really_ wanted to.

Carmilla’s thoughts drifted to her roommate. When she’d agreed to take care of Silas’s infestation of fairies, she hadn’t realized that part of her cover would involve dealing with such an agonizing little annoyance of a person. Dealing with the worker fairies had been a breeze. They were just tiny, witless creatures that fed off leftovers. The real challenge would be to take down the queen. It was turning out to be a much more complicated task than she had imagined it would be.

A queen fairy could enter human bodies; it could use their memories, their thoughts, and their mannerisms to completely disguise its true identity. It was the ultimate game of finding a needle in a haystack. And to add to the fun, there was one last minion fairy that needed to be taken care of first: the knight. To kill the queen first would be disastrous. A queen without its knight was still a queen, but a knight without its queen was nothing. The little bastard would probably stop at nothing to destroy those who took away its queen, and the power of vengeance was not something to be taken lightly.

To put it simply, the knight was the supreme worker fairy. It was only slightly less powerful than the queen. It was just as fast, as strong, and as smart, but the knight was unable to take control of a human. It remained in its true form at all times, which in all actuality made it much harder to catch. Humans left behind evidence of their existence. They could be tracked, by scent or by sight. But fairies were a different story.

Fairies were transparent flying creatures. Other than their glow, they were just about impossible to see. They had no smell, and hardly ever made noise. Worker fairies were only easy to find because of their nests. They never strayed far from them. And since the workers kept their nests close to the queen for protection, finding the nests meant finding the queen’s location. But the knight, whose main jobs were to hunt for food and to reproduce with the queen, did not share a nest with the rest of the hive. The only way to capture the knight was to stumble upon it by chance.

At least Carmilla already knew who the queen was inside of. It hadn’t been all that difficult to figure out, really. The queen had been sloppy; there had been clear traces of blood leading from the forest to the oldest freshman dorm, the worker fairies had built their nests in the stairwells, and, the cherry on top of it all, the queen’s carelessness had ended the moment Carmilla moved into Room 307. Sweet, innocent, obnoxious Laura Hollis was indeed the perfect human for the queen to hide inside of.

The girl’s personality was a general deterrent all on its own.

But Carmilla, despite her keen intuition, was starting to have doubts. The more she interacted with the queen, or possibly with just human Laura, the stronger her doubt grew. The memories that Laura had spoken of from her home were so detailed, so emotionally involved. Could the queen really dig that deep into Laura’s consciousness? Could it really fake that much passion? That much humanity?

She chewed on her lip. What if she was wrong? What if Laura was really just Laura? What if the queen was hiding in someone else? Killing the innocent wasn’t a fond pastime of Carmilla’s, just the thought of it left a bad taste in her mouth. She had to be absolutely sure that the queen was using Laura’s body before she acted.

Well, before _anyone_ acted. Though her unofficial, and unasked for, partner in crime was going to need much more convincing than just a few doubts. Carmilla rolled her eyes. With their heightened emotional senses and their poor little puppy feelings, a wolf tended to be a major pain in the ass to work with.

—

Laura paced the floor of Room 307. Her eyes landed on the soy milk container each time she passed it. More than once she considered running to the police with it, but she knew that waiting for LaFontaine’s scientific proof was the smartest plan. It would be highly embarrassing if she showed up at the local station with a soy milk container full of corn syrup and food coloring. It’d probably be just the sort of prank Carmilla was hoping to pull off.

 _Carmilla_. Laura kicked the girl’s bed as she paced by, stubbing her toe a little but she power walked through the sharp pain. Carmilla had yet to make an appearance since Scarlett’s murder. If she was returning to the room at all, she was timing it perfectly so that Laura was never there.

 _Probably laying low in the woods_ , Laura thought. _Because she knows I’m on to her. She knows I’m close to getting all the proof I need to expose her for the coldblooded killer that she really is_.

Feeling the urge to scream out some of her frustration, Laura reached for her yellow pillow. But it was gone. She stood, frozen in place, staring at the spot her pillow should be. Turning only her head, she spotted the smallest glimpse of yellow poking out from behind Carmilla’s mountain of tangled blankets. Laura angrily trudged over to Carmilla’s bed and snatched it up. She hugged it close to her chest, noting the freshly clean smell.

 _Who the hell washes a pillowcase before they steal it?_ Laura threw the pillow toward her bed, watching as it missed and landed in the trashcan full of things that really should have been recycled.

—

Four heavy paws thundered against the forest ground. The wolf moved strikingly fast, so quick and fluid that she appeared only as a blur; a streak of rust among the earthy tones. She stopped, sniffing the air.

Humans. Two of them. And they were close. Like a lion stalking its prey, she hid in the foliage as she crept toward the scent. Her ears twitched at the sound of a shrill giggle. She spotted them, a couple of Silas students who had ventured into the woods for a little alone time.

But they were not alone.

The wolf, twice that of the average size, halted in her tracks. She was being watched. She could feel it. Electric blue eyes, almost glowing in the fog, scanned the area. From within the darkness not far away, a pair of yellow eyes peered back at her. The vertical pupils narrowed in the recognition that she had spotted them.

The wolf howled, the loud noise terrifying the half-undressed students into running their way back to campus. The yellow eyes slowly emerged from the shadows, revealing that they belonged to an impressively sized black panther. The large cat bared its sharp fangs in a threatening snarl. The wolf mirrored the greeting, showing off her much larger and sharper canines.

A twinkle glinted in the panther’s eye, just daring her to try something. Reluctantly, the wolf backed down. She ducked into the cover of a tree and out of the panther’s view. No one needed to see how much she was still struggling with the transition phase.

Holding her breath, she concentrated hard. She thought of happy memories. Her parents, her friends, past lovers, running on two legs, how it felt to make someone laugh, the ability to speak and sing and scream. She opened her eyes, not even realizing that she’d closed them. Carmilla stood before her, wearing nothing but an oversized hoodie that one of the Silas students had left behind. Danny stood, stark naked and covered in dirt. Carmilla tossed her the students’ discarded blanket, tactfully keeping her gaze anywhere but on Danny’s exposed skin. The blanket reeked of spilt booze and cologne, but she gratefully covered herself with it.

“Before you say anything…” Danny played with the blanket’s frayed edges.

“You were too close.” Carmilla cut in. “They could’ve seen you.”

“I had to make sure they were safe.” Danny defended, her temper already spiking to a dangerous level.

“They were fine.” Carmilla hopped on to a fallen tree. Her pale legs balanced on it with ease. “Relax a little, would you?”

Danny laughed darkly. “Sure, I’ll relax. In fact, why don’t we go find a nice little party, huh? Does that sound like fun? Yeah, we can go party it up. And while we’re relaxing and having a good old time, some unsuspecting soul will come frolicking a little too close to the forest and get shredded into mincemeat by a _fucking evil fairy_. But it’s okay. We got a chance to _relax_.”

“Are you done yet?” Carmilla groaned.

“No! No, I’m not done! I’ll _never_ be done, because people are dying, and we’re supposed to be protecting them.”

“Woah, slow down there, Kibble and Bits. We’re not _supposed_ to be protecting anyone. This is a territorial dispute, remember? The only thing we’re protecting is ourselves.”

Danny took a step forward, putting the two of them eye-to-eye. “Look, I know you pretend that you don’t care about other people, I know that it makes it easier to deal with the pain when you lose them, I get that now. And I understand that neither of us chose this path, but _here we are_. We have the chance to do some good with the shitty lives we’ve been given. That means something to me…and I’m pretty sure that it means something to you, too. Why else would you be here? Why else would you have taken me under your vampire bat wing?”

Carmilla recoiled at the bad joke. “Well, unless you want the entire student body out scouring the forest with torches and pitchforks looking for your fluffy tail, I’d suggest you at least steer clear of getting seen.”

Danny nodded, taking a moment to think. “I still don’t understand why we can’t take this to the source.”

“No.” Carmilla snapped. “Not yet. I told you before, we have to be one hundred percent certain we know who the queen is inside of. And when we do know, we have to catch it off guard. It has to be isolated when we attack. If not, a lot more innocent people are going to get hurt. We have to get the queen into the forest, _after_ we get rid of the knight, and even then it’s going to take the both of us to kill the bitch.”

Danny shivered as the cool night air picked up. Her eyes avoided Carmilla’s. “When the time comes…will it still look human? Will it still be inside Laura’s body?”

Carmilla turned away, moving to walk up and down the fallen tree. She couldn’t stand the sad puppy dog look, and truth be told she didn’t want to risk having that same look show up on her own face. “I don’t know. I’ve only ever heard the legends about these creatures. I wouldn’t doubt it though. The queen is smart, perceptive, clever. It’ll use any tactic it can to toy with our emotions, to get us to lower our guards. This won’t be an easy fight.”

“And she’s…” Danny tried to keep it together, tried to remain as collected as Carmilla, but she could feel her heart aching inside her chest and the growing emptiness in her stomach. “She’s still in there somewhere, isn’t she? Trapped inside while it uses her body? While it pretends to be her?”

Carmilla paused. “It’s possible.”

It surprised them both when a sob choked out of Danny’s throat. Tears streamed freely from her tired eyes. Without hesitation, Carmilla wrapped her arms around Danny’s trembling shoulders. The redhead clutched at her, desperate for comfort and for a relief from her heartache. Carmilla could only stand there and let her cry it out. When she was finally able to get herself back in check, they separated.

It wasn’t the first time Danny had broken down in front of Carmilla. They’d come to an understanding about times like this. It would happen, they’d talk through it, and then neither of them would ever bring it up again. Danny felt safe in that unspoken agreement. Neither girl particularly liked being around the other, but their bond wasn’t about friendship or even about enjoying each other’s company. Their connection was something else entirely, something much more familial. And though they hadn’t known each other for very long, their little sisterhood was strong.

“Come on, Big Red. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover tonight.” Carmilla beckoned, turning on her heel and heading further into the shadows. She slipped the stranger’s hoodie over her head and tossed it into the air, morphing into her panther form before it could even hit the ground. 

Danny dropped the blanket where she stood. Though her transition was not as smooth as Carmilla’s, it was much quicker than her switch out had been.

It was always easier to find the beast than it was to find the human.

—

Flashback – Christmas Eve

White snow blanketed the campus grounds. Carmilla’s boots sunk with every step, her tracks leading back as far as the Dean’s office. She wasn’t concerned with anyone seeing her. With everyone gone home for the holidays, Silas was nothing but a frozen ghost town. She paused, looking up at the light snowflakes still drifting down from the sky. In all the years that Carmilla had spent hanging around Silas University, she’d never seen the campus look quite so beautiful before.

A howl in the distance startled her. Wolves? In the forest? Her mother hadn’t mentioned anything about wolves. Curious, Carmilla strolled down to the woods and ventured within. The wolf was easy to find, with its weak cries and its coppery fur. She approached it fearlessly, having dealt with this kind of creature fairly often throughout the years. A lone wolf was nothing to be concerned with, whereas a strong pack of them could probably tear her limb from limb.

“Why the long face?” Carmilla smirked as the wolf jumped to its paws. “Afraid you won’t be getting any presents this year? Been a big bad wolf, have you?”

The wolf growled, low and menacing.

Carmilla sighed. “Easy, Fido. I’m not going to hurt you. I only came down here to see what all the fuss was about. If you want me to leave, I’ll go.” If the werewolf had been in its human form, she never would have offered her company like that. But there was something about the sad puppy dog eyes that made her feel pity for the beast.

The wolf yielded. It curled up beside a tree, shivering in the cold. Carmilla cautiously stepped toward it. Neither broke eye contact as she sat down across from it.

“What’s your name?” Carmilla asked. The wolf only stared. “If you’re going to stay like that all night, I’m going to keep calling you Fido.” Nothing. “Fine by me either way.”

They sat across from each other for a long time. Hours, it seemed like. When the wolf started its whining and crying again, Carmilla began telling a long and detailed story of her recent travels. It was a one-sided conversation, but Carmilla didn’t mind. She preferred it this way, honestly. She’d spent the last several months dealing with people who asked too many questions and talked too much about themselves. Vapid, egotistical morons, all of them.

The story came to an end long before the night did. The wolf still distrusted her, so she decided to even the playing field. Carmilla pulled off her layers of clothing, folding them neatly. Her naked body held the wolf’s attention, but Carmilla felt indifferent under the watchful gaze. Nudity hadn’t bothered her in centuries.

She transformed into her panther form, immediately feeling warm and secure in her black fur. The wolf circled her inquisitively before laying down beside her. They were close enough to hear each other breathe, but not close enough to touch. Neither slept, but that was okay. They felt content and safe, and that was what mattered.

When day broke, Carmilla said her goodbyes. She hadn’t slept in days, and there was a much needed trip to the local blood bank that had to be made. The wolf stood when she did. It followed her all the way to the edge of the forest.

“You can’t walk around here looking like that.” Carmilla told the wolf. “If the people in charge catch you, they won’t be very nice.”

The wolf whined, pleading for her not to leave. Carmilla let out a heavy sigh. What was one more day without sleep, anyway? “I’ll be back later, okay? Now get out of here before someone sees you.”

She kept her blood run quick, but made time to stop by the butcher’s store while she was in town; the wolf had looked a tad bit on the skinny side. When she returned to the forest, the wolf was right where she’d found it the night before. Its tail wagged when it saw her. Despite her initial disgust at the show of affection, Carmilla found herself hiding a smile.

“Merry Christmas, you filthy animal.” She tossed the meat to the wolf and watched as it quickly devoured every last bite. It skipped around, stretching its legs. Carmilla watched it with quiet amusement. After a while, the wolf padded over to where she sat and curled up beside her. She wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but when she awoke it was to the frightening sound of a human girl sobbing beside her.

—

Present Day

When Laura’s alarm went off, she was still wide awake. She’d pulled an all-nighter waiting to see if Carmilla would try to slip into the room while she slept. But of course, there was no sign of her. Irritated and sleep deprived, Laura started preparing for the day. She showered, brushed her teeth, put on a nice outfit, and ate a banana. Still no Carmilla. She checked her favorite blogs, caught up on world news, and reread all of her Proof My Roommate Is A Psycho Killer notes. Still no Carmilla. She wrote an essay for her journalism class, and read a few articles about how to spot a sociopath. No Carmilla.

When the door to Room 307 finally did swing open, Laura nearly jumped out of her own skin and yelled, “I know what you are!”

LaFontaine came to a full stop, their mouth open in surprise.

“Ugh, sorry.” Laura dropped back into the desk chair.

“You okay?” LaFontaine asked. They didn’t move, still unsure of just how unwound Laura had become.

Laura’s eyes bulged and her tiny frame shook with anger. She pointed to Carmilla’s empty bed. “It’s been days. Where is she? Did she skip town? Is she on the run from the police? Is she doing all of this just to mess with me? I really can’t take any more of this. I can’t handle not knowing the truth. What if I take a nap and she comes in and stabs me in my sleep? What if she feeds me to her bear-wolf hybrid pet? I can’t get locked in the Chamber of Secrets, _my skeleton will lie there forever_!”

“Wow, okay.” LaFontaine walked over to her and placed their hands on her shoulders. “Laura, listen to me carefully, alright? You’re losing it. Actually, you’ve already lost it. Your sanity is gone. Now, here’s what we’re going to do, okay? We’re going to take a walk to the student health center. There are some very nice people there who will help you. You can talk to these people.”

“I don’t need to talk to anyone.” Laura replied in disbelief. “I _need_ to not be sleeping in the same room as a monster.”

“A monster, huh?” LaFontaine and Laura whipped around to see Carmilla standing in the doorway. “Takes one to know one, Cupcake.”

Laura nearly fell on her face trying to jump to her feet. “We found your secret blood stash!”

Carmilla’s eyes landed on the soy milk container. “Didn’t mommy ever teach you not to go through people’s things?”

“My mother is dead.” Laura regretted saying it the moment the words left her mouth. She felt awful, using her mom as a cheap way to hurt someone else. It was shameful.

Carmilla’s features softened, but she held strong to her apathetic façade. Luckily, LaFontaine joined in. “Uh, hey, guys, let’s take a moment to think about the things that we’re saying, okay? This is getting a little out of hand.”

Laura glared at them both. “Things got out of hand the moment that _she_ started hurting people.”

Carmilla shook her head. “And what makes you think that I’m the one hurting people? So you found a little fake blood, big deal.”

Laura opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off as loud sirens blared throughout the building.

“Oh, no.” LaFontaine grumbled. Carmilla and Laura looked to them for an explanation. “Those are the emergency lockdown alarms.”

“Lockdown?” Laura gulped.

LaFontaine carefully rushed around Carmilla and to the door. “All residents have to stay in their rooms. You could risk expulsion if you break these kind of rules. Sorry, Frosh, but I’ve got floor don duties. Perry should be by soon for your official floor head count, though.”

Laura helplessly watched as LaFontaine pulled the door shut. Carmilla looked at Laura with a raised eyebrow. “Looks like it’s just going to be the two of us for a while.”

“Stay away from me.” Laura warned.

Carmilla raised her hands in mock surrender. “Whatever you say, Princess.”

Laura crossed her arms. It was going to be long afternoon in Room 307.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	4. Pain

The door to Room 307 swung open to reveal a flustered Lola Perry. She momentarily relaxed when she spotted Laura. “Oh, thank god. You’re here.”

“Perry, what’s going on?” Laura asked. “Why are we on lockdown?”

She glanced around anxiously. “We’re really not supposed to say anything, Laura. My official business here is to take a head count.” An uneasy look crossed her face when her gaze briefly flittered to Carmilla. “You’re to remain in your room until the all clear is given by your floor don. And now that I can see you are both where you’re supposed to be, I will be moving on to the next room. Goodbye.” Perry slammed the door shut as she fled the room.

“Your friends are strange.” Carmilla knew it would get a rise out of Laura, but that was all part of the plan. She needed to find something, _anything_ that would prove the queen was using her.

“My friends are perfectly normal.” Laura glowered at her. “You’re the strange one. Where do you go every night?”

“To the Island of Misfit Toys. You?” Carmilla felt pleased with her response.

“Me?” Laura laughed darkly. “Oh, you know, I mostly just hang around here and _not murder people_.”

That was the final push, Carmilla decided. It was time to drop the act. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t handle being looked at like she was a coldblooded killer, like she would ever hurt someone who didn’t deserve every second of pain that was inflicted upon them. It was time to put the queen’s acting to the test. Carmilla lunged from her bed, taking Laura by surprise and pinning her down.

“Get off of—“ Laura’s yells were cut off as Carmilla slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Let’s get a few things straight.” Carmilla tried to stay focused on the task at hand, but the terrified look on Laura’s face was making things difficult. Dialing down the intimidation factor a notch, she pressed on. “I didn’t hurt anyone. Where I go and how I spend my time are none of your concern. And I want you to really try to remember this last one, okay? Don’t _ever_ call me a monster again.”

Carmilla was gone in a flash, back to her side of the room and staring out the window before Laura could even catch her breath. She could still sense how fast Laura’s pulse was racing, how scared she was. It made Carmilla sick to her stomach. She felt awful. She _was_ awful. Clearly, she’d been wrong the whole time. Laura was just Laura. No queen fairy, no mind games. Just sweet, innocent, obnoxious Laura, who was probably now more convinced than ever that Carmilla was the monster she so desperately tried not to be.

“I’m sorry.” Carmilla barely recognized her own voice. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d uttered a genuine apology to someone. “I lost my temper. It won’t happen again.” _Because you’re not the one I’m looking for._

A disturbance at the edge of the forest captured Carmilla’s attention. She could see it from the window; a streak of red between the trees. She made a mental note to commend Danny on her impeccable timing.

“It’s been fun, but I’ve got somewhere to be.” Carmilla grabbed her coat and headed out the door. She didn’t need to look back to know that Laura was right on her heels.

“Did you not hear, LaFontaine? You could be expelled for leaving.” Her voice was a harsh whisper.

“What do you care?” Carmilla threw back.

Laura followed her down the stairwell and out of the freshman dorm before saying, “We’re going to get caught.”

Carmilla whipped around to face her. “Go back inside where it’s safe.”

“Where it’s safe?” Laura hesitated. “What’s going on? What do you know? What are you hiding?”

Ignoring the spew of questions, Carmilla took off at top speed. She sprinted toward the woods in the hopes that Laura would accept defeat and return to Room 307. Her boots pounded the muddy ground as she entered the familiar shadows. A distressed howl pointed her in the right direction. She weaved between the trees, searching for any sign of danger. Though Carmilla was fully aware that Laura was still barreling after her, she didn’t have any time to spare on lecturing her about sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. For all she knew, Danny could have finally found the knight fairy. Or worse, the knight fairy could have found Danny.

Carmilla skidded to a halt, causing Laura to unexpectedly bump into her back. The tiny human opened her mouth to toss out a few more accusatory questions, but was turned speechless when her eyes peeked over Carmilla’s shoulder at the mangled corpse before them.

“Laura.” Carmilla’s body tensed. “Don’t. Move.”

—

It all happened so fast. One second Laura was standing behind Carmilla, and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back. She’d bumped her head, but it was a dull throb compared to the immense pain shooting through her wrist. She gasped at the searing sting as she cradled the injury to her chest. Her gasp quickly transitioned into a full blown scream as she finally caught sight of the animal that had tackled her.

Snarling viciously only a few yards away from her was the biggest wolf she’d ever seen in her life. The only thing between Laura and the wolf was Carmilla, who boldly faced the beast without a single trace of fear. If anything, she looked angry.

Without warning, the wolf bounded forward. As it leapt into the air, its jaws aiming straight for Laura’s jugular, Carmilla moved into its path with impossible speed. She used her body as a shield to cover Laura, and was somehow able to withstand the brunt force of an entire giant wolf landing on top of her. Carmilla shoved the wolf off of them, landing a sharp elbow to its stomach in the process. It growled at her, to which she responded with something resembling a hiss. Despite the life threatening danger she was in, Laura didn’t fail to notice when Carmilla’s lips pulled back to reveal a pair of sharp, gleaming fangs. The fur on the back of the wolf’s neck bristled as it continued to growl at them. There was a desperation in its blue eyes. It was almost as if nothing in the world was more important to it than killing Laura.

“She’s not the one!” Carmilla yelled, still shielding Laura’s body with her own. “I was wrong. It’s not her.” The wolf began pacing, prowling, never taking its eyes off of Laura. Carmilla pulled them both to their feet in one swift motion. She stood between the wolf and Laura while keeping a protective grip on Laura’s uninjured arm.

Carmilla lowered her voice. “Danny, listen to me.”

“ _Danny_?” Laura repeated weakly. She was starting to feel woozy from where her head had just collided with the solid ground.

Ignoring her, Carmilla kept her attention on the pacing wolf. “Is this really what you want? To kill an innocent human? _I was wrong_ , okay? She’s not a part of this. Killing her won’t stop anything.” She dropped her hold on Laura’s arm. Carefully, she stepped forward. The wolf ceased its pacing. It looked up at her with sad eyes. Though Laura felt like passing out, she used every bit of her strength to remain on her feet so that she could see what would happen next. But, unfortunately, her strength was far too depleted to power through this one.

This was the part where things really got fuzzy. She could remember strong arms catching her fall. She could recall Carmilla’s hands cupping her cheeks, her voice saying words but sounding garbled, her unreasonably beautiful face so close to Laura’s and so full of concern. And she could remember seeing Danny Lawrence covered in mud and hovering close by, her eyes a shade of blue that matched the sky and her hair a matted web of red tangles.

And then just like that, everything faded to black.

—

Danny refused to leave the forest. The dark was where she belonged. It was the only place that she could bare to live with herself. Her legs shook with exhaustion, but she kept running. Kept searching. Kept watch. No one else was going to die. The innocent would live to see another day if it was the last thing she did.

Innocents like Laura. She bit back the need to cry. There would be no more tears, only retribution. There was only one way to make things right: to do her damn job. She didn’t expect for Laura to forgive her, or for Carmilla to for that matter, but perhaps that was for the best. More could be accomplished as a lone wolf. No controlling vampire telling her to relax or to get some sleep, no human to distract her. There was only one thing to focus on now, which was how it should’ve been all along.

She would put an end to this madness no matter what the cost.

—              

Carmilla braced herself as the other girl stirred from her peaceful slumber. Laura’s eyes opened slowly. When the realization of what had happened hit her, she shot up to a sitting position. She winced, her arm raising to feel for the bump on the back of her head but stopping short as she noticed the heavy cast over her wrist. She jumped as a glass of water appeared before her.

“Drink this.” Carmilla instructed, trying hard not to take the sharp increase of Laura’s heartbeat too personal.

Laura dazedly took the glass in her hands. Her childlike expression of gratitude and awe was a look Carmilla had seen plenty of times before, but there was something about seeing it on Laura that made it feel entirely new again. “You saved my life.”

Carmilla gestured to the glass. “Drink.”

She took a small sip from it, if only to appease Carmilla, before setting the glass to the side. “Where’s Danny?”

“Who?” Carmilla took a seat on her bed across the room.

Laura used her good hand to analyze the large bump on the back of her head while she spoke. “Would you stop playing games with me for one minute? I’ve got a whole lot of questions, and I’m pretty sure you’ve got some answers.”

Carmilla had to avert her gaze when Laura gasped at the pain of finding her head wound. “Fine.” She relented. What did it really matter if Laura knew everything? It wasn’t like anyone would believe her if she told them. “I’ll answer a few of your questions, but…” She locked eyes with the shorter girl. “I have one condition.”

“Name your price.” Laura answered without hesitation.

“Do not go back into that forest.” She demanded. “Don’t even go near it. Can you do that?”

Laura let out a breath she hadn’t meant to hold, a smile of relief touching her lips. “Not a problem. Now just tell me what the hell is going on around here.”

Carmilla took her time in deciding what information to divulge. “Before I can give you any real answers, there are a few crucial things that you have to understand.” Laura nodded encouragingly, so she continued. “Humans are not the only creatures in this world. Far from it, actually. You just happen to be the most widespread.”

“You, as in _me_ , as in human, as opposed to _you_ being…what?” She glanced to the soy milk container, still sitting out right where she’d left it. She looked back at Carmilla, at her pale skin and her knack for intimidation. She recalled the inhuman strength and speed that her roommate had exhibited in the forest, the image of descending fangs forever burned into her memory. “Are you telling me that you’re _a vampire_?”

Carmilla frowned. “I’d watch my tone if I were you.”

“Sorry.” She blushed as she sank back against the wall, pulling her yellow pillow into her lap and holding it close. “Please, keep going.”

“As I was saying, humans aren’t alone, especially on this campus. There are dark creatures in those woods, always have been. They were here long before humans showed up. Some of these creatures want to reclaim the Earth. They despise humans. They find you to be weak, stupid mammals that are underserving of the land you defile. You’re nothing more than a disease to them. A plague on the natural world. A speedy round of evolution is your only claim to fame. You outnumber them, you reproduce faster. You have weapons, most of which aren’t worth a damn against ancient beasts, but what good is the ability to survive a few bullets to the chest when they burn down your forest? They resent you. All of you. They can’t fight you. Not in the ways they want to. Secrecy is the only thing they have left.” Carmilla paused, allowing Laura a few moments to process everything.

“What classifies something as a dark creature?” Laura asked quietly.

“It’s a phrase reserved for those that kill without need.” Carmilla watched her carefully. “Those that kill the innocent for fun.”

“Are humans dark creatures?”

“The short answer is yes.”

“And the long answer?”

“There are good humans, just as there are bad ones. That’s one of the beautiful things about the human race. So much diversity, so much individuality. It’s unfair to group all of humanity together like that.”

Laura’s finger absentmindedly drew patterns on the yellow pillow. “Are there bad vampires?”

Carmilla watched Laura’s finger and imagined the designs being carved out against the soft fabric. “Yes, there are dark vampires. They kill when they please, even if they have no need for the blood they spill.”

Laura swallowed hard. “How many humans have you killed?”

Carmilla knew the exact number. She could never forget. “Four thousand, three hundred and sixty-two.”

Laura’s jaw dropped. “Four thousand people?”

“Four thousand, three hundred and sixty-two.” Carmilla repeated sullenly. She could hear the sound of Laura calling her a monster ringing in her ears. “And before you start throwing out any judgments, you should know that every last one of them deserved it.”

“Deserved to die?” Laura’s voice was full of skepticism. “Who are you to decide who lives and who dies?”

Carmilla could feel her temper rising, but she kept it under control. They didn’t need a repeat of what happened the last time she let Laura get to her. “John Oliver Terrance. Do you know that name? No, you don’t. But if I hadn’t killed him first, you would have known him as the man who sliced the throats of a dozen privileged schoolchildren in 1732. Was my crime of ending his life more foul than the one he had planned? What about Anne Barklow, remember her? No? That’s because she never had the chance to drown her newborn daughter in the Grüner See. I’ve drank the blood of murderers, of the sick that begged for a painless death, of men who hit their wives and laid hands on their children, of those who did not respect the word no. Yes, Cupcake, I’ve made the choice of who lives and who dies, but I have never made that choice lightly.”Laura could only stare, struck completely speechless. Carmilla avoided looking her in the eyes. “I’ve taken to using blood donation banks the last decade or so, but my policy for helping rid this godforsaken planet of its scum hasn’t changed. If it weren’t for all this fairy nonsense, I would’ve cleaned up some of the walking trash from this campus by now.”

“Fairy nonsense?” Laura picked up. “You don’t mean to say that _fairies_ are the ones attacking people, do you?”

Carmilla was grateful for the change of subject. “Fairies aren’t the whimsical little pixies that humans pretend they are. They’re dark, powerful, and they’ve got a sweet tooth for human flesh.”

Laura tenderly touched the bump on her head again. “But what about that wolf in the forest?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Carmilla promised.

“Why did it attack me?”

“It was my fault. I was mistaken about you. I thought you were one of the fairies. The queen, to be exact. It’s masquerading as one of the students around here. It slips inside a human’s ear and latches on to the brain. It takes control of their body. Of their memories and their thoughts. I had thought that it was in your head, but, as it turns out, you’re just _really_ annoying all on your own.”

“A queen fairy?” Laura ignored the insult. “Like a queen bee?”

“Similar, I suppose. They have a very simple hierarchy. There’s a queen, a knight, and workers. The queen runs the operation. It hides within a host, almost always a human. The workers build nests close to the queen’s location. They’re the offspring, the dumb children, they don’t do much of anything except eat leftover scraps, transport food, and build more nests. The knight is the muscle. It’s the one that catches the food for the workers to bring back to the queen. This particular knight that we’re dealing with is smart. It never goes farther than the edge of the forest. It’s fast, hard to see, and leaves no trail to follow. We’ve only seen it once, during the first attack. It was by luck that we’d been nearby at the right time.”

“You and the wolf?” Laura guessed. “The wolf you called Danny?”

“Yes.” Carmilla answered hesitantly.

Laura looked down at her pillow. “We wouldn’t happen to be talking about Danny Lawrence, would we?” When Carmilla didn’t respond, Laura nodded gloomily. “I remember seeing her face just before passing out. This means she’s a…”

“A werewolf.” Carmilla supplied. A softness touched her features. “Look, she’s still learning how to control herself. It’s not easy to deny this kind of bloodlust. She never would have tried to kill you if she’d been thinking clearly. The attacks, the deaths, it’s eating away at her. She thinks she’s supposed to be the hero and swoop in to save everyone, but that’s not how it works.”

“How do you know each other?”

“We met shortly after she’d first been turned. The one that bit her was a dark lone wolf. He’d left her in the woods to either turn or die, it obviously didn’t matter to him which one.”

“Poor Danny.” Laura mumbled.

Carmilla raised a brow. “So you’ve already forgiven Clifford The Big Red Dog?”

Laura smiled. “It sounds cute when you put it that way.”

“Cute like that fashionable new cast you’re sporting.” She was bitter, and she didn’t care if Laura knew it. Danny had been completely out of line attacking on her own like that. They’d agreed to take on the knight together, to defeat the queen _together_. Going behind Carmilla’s back, literally, and trying to kill Laura was a serious offense.

“Yeah, hey, what’s up with this?” Laura raised her arm and examined the cast. “When did it even get here?”

“Your friends, Ginger One and Two, they carried you to the student health center. I told them you tripped and fell down the stairs trying to stop me from leaving during the lockdown. One believed me, but Two was rather skeptical.”

“Did they ever say why we were under a lockdown?”

“They found a body.”

“But we found the body _after_ the alarms started—“

“Not that one.”

“Oh. Wow. Well, where do we go from here?” Laura asked. “How do we find the real queen?”

Carmilla smirked. “We?”

Laura picked up the glass of water and took a large gulp from it. “Well, yeah. I’m not about to just sit by and let some crazy psycho fairies kill innocent people when there’s something I could be doing about it. So, is there something I could be doing?”

Carmilla bit her lip to hide the grin that threatened to form. In all her years, she’d never met anyone so incredibly sweet, innocent, or obnoxious. “Yeah, there’s something.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	5. Perseverance

Through the window of Room 307, Laura looked out at the forest. What once had looked menacing and mysterious now only provided feelings of curiosity. If vampires, werewolves, and fairies were real, what else could be hiding in there? Goblins? Elves? Dragons? Giants? Ghosts? Everything was fair game at this point. She made a mental note for later to ask Carmilla to detail just how much of Harry Potter had been real all along; she was particularly holding out for magic being real, but figured that one was probably a longshot.

A brief knock tapped on the door before it opened to reveal LaFontaine and Perry. LaFontaine held up a vile of blood. It was the sample that they had taken from Carmilla’s soy milk stash. “Sit down, Frosh. We’ve got some bad news for you.”

Laura tried her best to remain composed. Her friends, while they had good intentions, couldn’t know the truth about Carmilla or Danny. For one, they would never believe her if she did tell them about an ongoing supernatural war between a bunch of vindictive, mind-controlling fairies, and her roommate the aloof vampire along with her not-so-trusted baby werewolf sidekick, the former Lit TA Danny Lawrence. It was almost too much for even herself to believe.

“Guys, I appreciate the help, but I’ve got it all covered. Trust me, I was wrong about Carmilla. There’s really nothing to worry about.” She added in a smile that was supposed to be reassuring, but the looks LaFontaine and Perry gave her said otherwise.

“Laura, did you have any memory loss after your little…” Perry glanced to Carmilla’s side of the room before gesturing to the cast on Laura’s wrist. “ _Accident_? You hate her, remember? You told us yourself. Several times, I might add.”

“I know, I know. It’s just…I’ve had a change of heart. Or, she’s had a change of heart. However that saying works, hearts have been changed, okay? Things are good between us now. I mean, she’s still rude and she still won’t clean up when she’s supposed to and she _still_ eats my food without asking, but we’re working through it. We had a clash of personalities, that’s all. We just needed to see things from each other’s perspectives.”

“Did she blackmail you?” LaFontaine lowered their voice to a whisper. “Is the room bugged? Is she hiding under the bed and listening to us right now? Blink twice if you’re being forced to say all of this.”

“What? No!” Laura huffed. “She’s not here. It’s just the three of us.”

Perry yanked the vile out of LaFontaine’s hand. “Do you see this? This is the proof that you asked for. This is human blood, Laura. You were absolutely right about her. She’s got to be involved with the murders.”

LaFontaine nodded. “I ran the tests. Twice. It’s human blood.”

Laura shrugged. “There could be plenty of reasons why someone would have human blood in their fridge. Maybe it’s for an experiment of her own. Do you know her major? I sure don’t. She could be pre-med for all we know.”

“Why are you suddenly on her side?” LaFontaine raised an eyebrow. “Are you sleeping with her?”

A deep red crept across Laura’s cheeks. “Sleeping with—? What? No! What would even make you think that? I don’t…that’s ridiculous!”

“ _Laura Hollis_!” Perry gasped, her hands planted firmly on her hips. “How dare you fall for some psychotic wench’s scheme of seduction. Clearly, she’s using you. Can’t you see that you are going to be her best chance at an alibi if she gets caught?”

“And there’s more.” LaFontaine reached into their shirt pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper. Smoothing it out, they offered it for Laura’s inspection. “Remember the hair sample that I extracted from the shower drain? Well, when I tried conducting a few tests on it, the computer system in the Bio Lab started malfunctioning. I didn’t really think anything of it, until I got back to my room and found this letter waiting for me. Look at the signature. It’s from the Dean herself. It’s basically just a glorified cease and desist letter.” They paused, allowing Laura a few moments to scan the words. “You were right all along. There’s a major conspiracy happening right in front of us. The Dean is obviously in on it, why else would she be sending me a personal ‘ _stop what you’re doing right now or I’ll expel you before you can even wipe your tears_ ’ letter? She’s protecting Carmilla!”

“She’s protecting a student’s right to privacy.” Laura defended. “It says so right here. You can’t just go running tests on people’s DNA like that.”

Perry pinched the bridge of her nose. “Laura, since the day you met her, you’ve done nothing but complain about how evil she is. We finally agree with you, we have proof, and now you’re backing out? What happened to all of those _bad feelings_ you had about her? Hmm? Where did they go?”

LaFontaine shook their head. “Seduced by the devil. So cliché.”

Laura released an exasperated sigh as she stalled. Her friends could see right through her. She was about to consider caving just as the door flung open and Carmilla walked in. Noticing the awkward silence that had fallen, she asked, “Did I interrupt something?”

The pair of friends scrambled for the exit, Perry nearly pulling LaFontaine’s hand off in her desperation to get out of the room. As they fled, Carmilla plopped down on her bed with a smirk.

“Holy crap.” Laura let out a breath of relief.

“What did the Ginger Twins do now?” Carmilla didn’t bother to hide her amusement.

“LaFontaine figured out what was in your soy milk. They’re both pretty freaked out about it. Oh, and LaF tried to run tests or whatever on a strand of your hair. The Dean found out and sent them a very threatening letter about invading the privacy of other students.”

Carmilla’s smirk fell. “The Dean?”

“Yeah, and now they think the Dean is working with you.” Laura popped a cookie into her mouth. Her chewing slowed as she took in Carmilla’s forlorn expression. “Wait.” She said with her mouth still full. “ _Is_ the Dean of students involved?”

Carmilla avoided her eyes. “It’s complicated.”

Laura pushed through the discomfort as she swallowed her mouthful of cookie too soon. “Complicated? That means yes, right? She knows what’s really killing the students? She knows about the fairies and the queen and the knight and the whole round table of freaky supernatural shenanigans that are going on around here?”

Carmilla stared quietly at the ceiling for a few moments. “She knows about the fairies, she’s the one who asked me to get rid of them. She’s very particular about what kinds of creatures she’ll allow on this campus. As far as I can tell, she’s still unaware of our mutt in the woods, and it needs to stay that way.”

“Is she…” Laura chose her words carefully. “Is she like you?”

“If you’re asking if she’s a vampire, then yes.” Carmilla rolled on to her side, facing the wall. “But I am _nothing_ like her.”

—

Danny lapped at the fresh water, grateful that she’d stumbled across the river during her patrol. Keeping properly hydrated had not been one of her highest concerns as of late. She’d been far too busy keeping a watchful eye on the forest. Her empty stomach grumbled. She’d been slacking on that front as well. Eating the small woodland creatures wasn’t an issue for her, but as the nights were growing colder again, finding them was becoming much more difficult. No one had ever taught her how to hunt for a rabbit or, on the rarer occasions, a deer. And while she was fast enough to catch them when they did appear, she was hopeless at actively seeking them out.

She had yet to return to campus since the incident with Laura. She’d vowed not to enjoy the luxuries of a hot meal or shelter or a clean bath until she’d put an end to the fairies at Silas once and for all. And though Carmilla spent the majority of her time in the forest helping look, she never said a word to Danny. The silent treatment was fine by her. Less talking meant more searching.

When she was done drinking, she noticed something that took her breath away. On the surface of the flowing water wasn’t her usual reflection, it was that of a large fiery wolf. Its blue eyes stared at her, following her movements. It was the first time she’d ever considered what she might look like in her wolf form. She wasn’t disappointed, she looked just as wild and frightening and she felt, but still the image left a heaviness in her heart. She didn’t recognize that furry face. That wasn’t her. Those sharp teeth that tried to rip out Laura’s throat, those vengeful eyes, the look of exhausted desperation on the beast’s face, none of it was her.

But it was. All of it was her, and there was nothing that she could do to change that.

—

“I have more questions.” Laura announced. Carmilla hadn’t even made it past the doorway before Laura had jumped at the opportunity to speak.

“I may have an answer or two.” Carmilla headed straight for the fridge. She’d only returned to their room for a quick snack. Things were getting more stressful than ever out in the woods. She and Danny had ceased all communication, the knight had yet to make any appearances, and the queen’s true identity was still a mystery. They were running out of time; her mother had never been one to practice patience very well. She shuddered at the thought of what her mother might do if she failed to take care of the fairies as she had promised she would.

“I, um, I want to know more about these fairies.” Laura openly stared as Carmilla took a swig of blood from the soy milk carton.

“Like what?”

“Anything. Everything. What more can you tell me?”

“I’ve already told you everything I thing that I know, Princess.”

“Well, how do we find out more? I tried searching online, but everything that I found kept telling me about how _fictional_ and _cute_ fairies are.” Laura sighed. “Is there really no way to look up information on creatures that humans don’t believe exist?”

Carmilla shrugged. “You could try the library.”

Laura slumped in her desk chair. “I’m being serious.”

“As am I.” Carmilla took a seat on her bed, the soy milk container still in hand. “The basement is full of old books that haven’t seen the light of day in decades. It wouldn’t hurt to try looking down there.”

“The library has a basement?”

“All the good stuff is hidden down there.”

Laura licked her lips as she watched Carmilla take another drink. “We should check that out later. Or even right now, if you want. I can skip my last class.”

A smirk pulled at the side of Carmilla’s lips. “Go to class, Cupcake. At least one of us should try to keep up the act that everything is normal.”

Laura frowned. “People are dying.”

Carmilla mirrored her fallen expression. “I’m aware.”

“Class can wait.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Everything can wait. There are more important things going on right now than learning about journalism in the early twentieth century.”

After letting the last few drops of blood fall onto her tongue, all the while conscious of how intently Laura’s eyes were fixed on her, Carmilla irritably tossed the empty container to the side. Laura was getting on her nerves. Not because she was so willing to help, that part wasn’t bad at all, but because of the annoying fact that Laura was starting to sound exactly like Danny. “No wonder you and Big Red used to be bed buddies, you’re perfect for each other.”

Laura gaped at her. “What? You mean Danny? We never…she and I, we didn’t…that’s not what happened. We never did anything like that. Not even close.”

“What’s the deal, Creampuff? Saving it for marriage?”

“That’s really none of your business. You’re really aggravating, you know that?”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“I’m on your side, remember?” Laura turned in the desk chair so that they fully faced each other. “I’m trying to help.”

Carmilla tried not to pay much attention to the weird feeling that Laura’s gaze left in her stomach. “You can help all you want, but you’re not going to let it consume your life. I’ve already got one basket case on my hands, I don’t need her ex-girlfriend going off the rails too.”

“We never dated.” Laura clarified. “Danny is nice and all, but we just didn’t click that way.”

“Click?” Carmilla raised a brow.

Laura sheepishly looked at her hands. “Uh, yeah, you know, click. Like, you have to click with someone the right way for there to be anything romantic.”

“You don’t need there to be romance to fuck someone.”

“Okay, well, that didn’t happen so what does it matter?”

Carmilla stood. “It doesn’t.”

“Okay.” Laura looked up at her. “Um, so…meet you at the library after my last class?”

“ _After_ your class.” Carmilla emphasized before walking out in a heated rush.

—

Laura spent the better part of her class chewing on the end of her pen and thinking about Carmilla. Her roommate was mysterious, and while that was incredibly attractive, it was also incredibly vexing to put up with. But despite all of her bad habits and her apathetic front and her intimidating nature and her insulting language, Laura could tell that Carmilla was secretly a much better person than she let on to be. Forcing her to go to class? Concerned for her mental well-being? Accepting her offer to help take down mystical dark creatures? Prying into her romantic history? Carmilla could fake it all she wanted, but Laura knew that deep down that crabby beautiful vampire actually did care about someone other than herself.

 _Beautiful?_ The word brought a smile to her lips. Carmilla was undeniably the most gorgeous person that she’d ever seen. She wondered if that was part of the vampirism, or if she’d always been stunning like that. Sure, her manners needed a little work, and she smirked way more than any one person should ever smirk, but Laura couldn’t deny that all the little imperfections faded from her mind the moment that Carmilla put on a smile. She rarely ever smiled, but on those few occasions when she did, Laura had to consider herself lucky. Carmilla smiling was like nothing else. But that didn’t change things. Beautiful or not, Carmilla was still a secretive, quick tempered, withdrawn, egotistical pain to deal with.

—

In the basement of the Silas library, Carmilla and Laura sat across from each other with a wall of dusty books between them. It was a nice setup. Dark, other than the antique fluorescent tubes on the ceiling and the yellow desk lamps at their table; comfortably quiet, since no one in their right mind would venture down to the library’s rat-infested basement; and nice, because Laura was pretty okay company when she wasn’t blabbering on about things that didn’t matter. At least with her nose in a book the girl wasn’t quite as unbearable.

Carmilla glanced at her over the wall. She could only see the top half of Laura’s head, but she could imagine what she looked like reading. She’d noticed Laura’s habits before. She liked to run her finger along the page as she read. Sometimes her mouth would mime the words or expressions of the characters. Sometimes, usually when studying, she liked to chew on a straw or a pen. Whenever she came across something hard to understand, an adorable crinkle would form between her brows.

 _Adorable_? The word stabbed her like a knife. Yes, Laura was adorable, but she was also the very last person that Carmilla should be thinking that about. It wasn’t a matter of fearing rejection, she knew good and well that Laura liked girls; she’d been able to sense it in the initial reaction Laura had displayed when they’d first met, and Laura herself had confirmed that there had been an almost romance between her and Danny. No, rejection wasn’t the issue. It was Laura. She was too pure, too innocent. She was optimistic about the world. She still believed that good always conquered evil. She was the kind of person who wanted to save the whales, who gave second chances, who was forgiving and kind.

Carmilla would eat her up and spit her out, just like all the other girls who’d been gullible enough to fall for her charm. She’d break her heart without giving it a second thought. Laura didn’t deserve that. She needed someone who wouldn’t leave in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. Someone who would buy her flowers. Someone who would watch her dorky movies with her. Someone who would actually pay attention when she ranted about Lord of the Rings. Someone who would hold her hand and kiss her forehead and bring her hot tea.

Carmilla found herself thinking that maybe, with a little effort and a little bravery, she could be someone like that.

“Ah hah!” Laura’s exclamation jerked Carmilla from her daydream.

“Find anything useful?” She walked around the table, stretching out her limbs. They’d been down in the basement for much longer than she’d realized.

“Maybe.” Laura pointed to a passage. “Check this out. It’s an old tale about a farmer who found a glowing light on his land. He goes up to the light, thinking that it’s a sign from the gods, and asks it if it means him any harm. The glowing light floats into his body, takes control, and walks him back into his house where it makes him kill his wife and children. Then, it makes him walk out to his crops and destroy them. Only after it has done as much damage as it possibly can, does the light leave the farmer’s body. Still thinking that this is some sort of divine intervention, he asks the light what he had done to anger the gods. The light takes the shape of a small butterfly-like creature and says to him, ‘I do unto you only as you have to me’.”

Carmilla peered over Laura’s shoulder at the passage. “Well, it’s definitely about fairies. Sounds like the farmer built his home on the hive’s nests without realizing it. The queen got pissed and wanted revenge.”

“Could that be what’s going on now?” Laura looked up at her, their faces becoming much closer than either girl intended them to be.

“No.” Carmilla focused hard on the book rather than on the rosy tint to Laura’s cheeks. “This is just normal hunting and feeding for them. I destroyed all of the nests and worker fairies, but the knight is still out there killing. The queen probably wouldn’t go looking for revenge unless it was completely isolated with no hopes of repopulating.”

“So, the knight mates with the queen?” Laura looked at the pages. “Well, why not just wait for the knight to come to the queen then? They’re going to have to start popping out baby fairies sooner or later.”

“I doubt the knight would risk coming on campus, but the queen would probably go into the forest if it got desperate enough.” Carmilla smiled. “I think you’re on to something here, Cupcake.”

“Seriously?” Laura giggled. “I mean, it’s nothing. It was just a thought.”

“No, really. I hadn’t even considered the fact that the queen might want to repopulate the worker fairies. It makes sense. With no workers, no one is getting any food to the queen. It’s probably starving by now. And of course the knight would have no idea that the workers are all gone because it won’t ever leave the forest. Eventually, the queen is going to have to go to the knight.”

Laura hesitated. “Should we tell Danny?”

Carmilla bit her lip. “I’ll handle that. Keep looking through these books. We still need to find a better way to attack than just releasing the dog on them.”

“You should smile more often.” Laura’s comment took them both by surprise. She speedily backpedaled. “I don’t mean that in a ‘women are supposed to smile all the time’ kind of way. God, no. I just mean…well, you’re really pretty when you smile. I mean, you’re pretty all the time, which really isn’t fair, but especially when you smile. So, yeah, you should smile more. If you want to. I’m not saying you have to. But, if you feel the urge to smile, you should. Okay, I’m going to stop rambling now.”

Carmilla couldn’t help it. She tried not to do it, she _really_ tried, but the way Laura was blushing and stumbling over her words just pulled the smile right out of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	6. Predacious

Danny’s bare feet sluggishly dragged across the ground as she trudged through the undergrowth. The cold could be felt in her very bones, but she’d long since grown numb to the pain of a harsh winter morning. She had a hard time keeping her eyes open, but her determination to stay vigilant kept her moving. One nap could be the difference between life and death. So, on she walked. The sun hadn’t been up for very long, but the icy tree limbs that were stretched out above her already gleamed in its light. Coming across a stream of sunlight, she stood in its warmth. It wasn’t much, but it was the first time the sun had touched her skin in days.

Her ear twitched as it alerted her to a nearby disturbance. Though her reflexes were slow, she was still fast enough to fall into a defensive stance before the approaching visitor had time to step into view. It was only Carmilla, but she kept her guard up.

“We need to talk.” Carmilla looked her over. It wasn’t sexual, far from it in fact. The disgusted concern in her expression made that clear. “And you need a mirror.”

Danny lowered her fists, still bathed in the patch of sunlight. “We need to talk?” Her voice was hoarse. “What more bad news could you possibly have for me?” She paused. “Is Laura—“

“Laura is fine. The cast on her wrist will be off in a few weeks.” Carmilla dismissed.

“Then what?”

“We came up with a plan.”

Danny stepped out of the light, warily moving closer to her. “ _We_? Meaning you and Laura? What did you tell her? How much does she know?”

“Everything.” Carmilla lied. It was true in the sense that Laura knew as much as Danny knew, but neither of them really knew everything there was to know about the situation. She’d told them both that the Dean was a vampire who had requested her to clean up the fairy problem, but she’d withheld the personal details about the Dean being her mother. She didn’t like talking about her mother, and it wasn’t vital information anyway.

Danny’s voice dropped to a threatening level. “You told her about me? About what I am?”

“I didn’t have to.” Carmilla shook her head. “You did that all on your own the moment that you decided to kill her.”

“I told you, it was a moment of weakness!” Danny bellowed. “I didn’t have control over what I was doing. I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t. I would do anything to take that back.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, Fido.” She reminded her.

A single tear rolled down her dirty cheek as her lips trembled. “I don’t want to be like this.”

“Pull yourself together.” Carmilla hissed. “You are not helpless. You are not some baby that needs a grownup to wipe your nose. You are not a wild animal or a mindless _monster_. Letting your impulses get the better of you is pitiful. You are better than that. I taught you better than that. You are stronger than that. Letting the beast win is the easy way out. That path is for the weak.”

Shaky knees finally giving out, Danny slumped to the earth. Carmilla stared down at her. She was broken, defeated. All signs of hope had perished from her eyes. One little pep talk wasn’t going to fix this. Tears streamed from Danny’s eyes as she fell forward. Her hands plunged into the mud. It felt like a heavy weight was in her chest, like all the agony in the world was crushing her into the ground.

With her blue eyes harboring an ocean of despair, Danny looked up at Carmilla from her position on all fours in the icy sludge. “Kill me.” She begged. “Please, kill me.”

Carmilla could only silently stare back at her.

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live like this.” Danny cried.

Carmilla’s voice came out as a whisper, probably to hide how devastatingly hard it was for her to not break down as well. “You can. You will.”

Danny’s fingers dug into the mud. Each of her sobs sliced into Carmilla’s lifeless heart. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. Please, save me.”

Carmilla kneeled before her. She remained quiet for a few moments, trying to think of what to say. She’d never been very good at these kinds of things. “Look, I know how you feel right now. I’ve been there before. You feel alone. Desperate. Helpless. Like nothing will ever be the way it was. And that part is true, nothing will ever be the same as it was. Your old life is over. But this right now, this isn’t your new life. Not yet. This is the mourning period, the transition. It won’t always be like this. It won’t always feel so…hopeless.” She swallowed back the sob that threatened to break free from her throat. “Things can change, but only if you make them.”

Danny’s arms gave out, but Carmilla swept in to catch her in an awkward embrace. The redhead cried freely as she held her. She wasn’t concerned about the gritty nails digging into her arms or the flood of tears drenching her coat or Danny’s grimy bare skin or the cold or the phlegm dripping from Danny’s nose or the mortifying position they were in. Only one thought plagued her mind as she huddled in the mud with Danny.

 _Please don’t give up._ She could feel the tears brimming her eyes. _I don’t want to lose my only friend._

—

Laura lost track of how long she’d been in the shower. The hot water, which wasn’t ever really hot to begin with, had turned lukewarm a while ago. She stood under the spray, letting it soothe her. She’d spent the entire night in the library’s basement looking for more legitimate information on fairies. Other than the farmer’s tale, she’d come up empty handed. Carmilla had warned her not to pull an all-nighter, and she honestly hadn’t planned on doing so, but the time had slipped by her.

She breathed in deep, focusing on how her lungs expanded when they filled with air. She held it there, feeling full. Breathing out through her mouth, she paid close attention to the way the falling water hit her skin, the way it streamed in lines down her body, the way it circled around the drain.

Getting out of the shower was always the worst part of a shower.

Wrapping herself in a towel, she headed back into the room. She shrieked unexpectedly at the sight of Carmilla lounging on her bed.

“I didn’t hear you come in.” Embarrassed, she tightened the towel around herself and quickly skittered over to her dresser in search for clothes. She was entirely too underdressed and the way Carmilla was watching her set fire to her skin. “Did you tell Danny about how the queen might lead us to the knight?”

Carmilla bit her lip. “We’ve got a slight problem with that.”

“Oh, no.” Laura paused her rummaging. “Did they already pop out a new army of baby fairies?”

“No, well, at least I don’t think so. Our problem is with Danny.” She answered quietly.

“What about Danny?” Laura slipped on her underwear beneath the towel. She’d become adept at the art of dressing while wrapped in a towel back in her summer camp days.

“Uh, well…” Suddenly becoming very fascinated with her nails, Carmilla avoided looking anywhere near Laura’s general direction. “She’s pushed herself too far. She’s taking on too much. Her body is exhausted, too tired to even change forms, but she won’t let it rest.”

“Where is she?” Laura asked, pulling pants on.

“I found her wandering the forest, unclothed and filthy. But, eventually, she passed out on me and I was able to drag her to a safe location.”

“Oh, wow. This sounds bad. Like, really bad. Did you leave her somewhere on campus?”

“No, I couldn’t risk being seen.” Carmilla glanced over in time to see Laura turn and drop the towel. Her eyes were stuck on Laura’s bare back. “I took her off campus. Away from the woods, away from Silas. Somewhere no one would find her by accident.”

“Where?” Laura inquired. After putting on her bra, she slipped her shirt on and buttoned it up all the way. Finally, she turned back to face Carmilla and relished in the satisfaction of catching the vampire staring.

“Let’s just call it a safe house.” Carmilla abruptly returned to being utterly fascinated with her nails. “I don’t know how long she’ll sleep for, but one of us had better be there when she wakes up.”

“I’ll stay with her. Oh, hey, before I forget, I thought of something to ask you.” Laura halfheartedly attempted to dry her hair. “You said the queen is for sure hiding out in this building, right?”

“I’m sure it’s here.”

“How sneaky do you think the queen would be? Like, I don’t know, maybe having the knight attack the human it’s hiding inside of?”

Carmilla locked eyes with her. “You think the queen is in Sarah Jane?”

“Maybe.” Laura shrugged. She tossed the towel on the hanging rack to dry. “She’s the only victim that survived, she lives on the floor above us, and that time I talked to her she told me that she’d heard a female voice whispering to her during the attack. She said the voice mentioned stuff like a sacrifice and feeding a beast. Before I left, I showed her a picture of you and asked if she recognized you. She knew you were my roommate, but she added in a comment about how you have a bad aura. What if she was just trying to frame you? What if I was really talking to the queen the whole time?”

“I’ll look into it, but we need to get you to Danny first.” Carmilla stood. “You should know, she’s not in a good place. She’s not going to want our help. She might say things that she doesn’t mean, things that will hurt you. You don’t know what it’s like, but when you have your humanity taken from you like this…it’s an adjustment that not everyone can make.”

Laura slipped on her shoes. “If someone can’t make the adjustment, what happens?”

Carmilla turned away. “The dark always consumes those that aren’t strong enough to stand in the light.”

—

From the depths of a heavy slumber, Danny groggily breached consciousness. Her eye lids felt as if they were glued together, and her bones felt like concrete. She could hear a muffled voice, one that was familiar but that she couldn’t quite place right away. The tone was even and steady. With time, she realized it was Laura reading aloud to her. She focused on her voice until it didn’t sound so far away.

Using all the willpower she could muster, Danny forced her eyes to open. She could just make out the blurry shape of Laura sitting in a chair beside her, reading from an impressively sized book. Having zapped what little energy she had, her eyes fluttered shut and back to the comfort of sleep she returned.

—

“We have to do something.” Perry grumbled, pacing the floor of her room. “Maybe we could go straight to the authorities?”

“And what if we’re wrong?” LaFontaine suggested. “What if Laura is right and this is all just a big misunderstanding? We never gave Carmilla the chance to explain why she had a bunch of human blood. There could be a logical explanation.”

Perry shook her head. “No, no. There is something fishy going on in that room. Laura is clearly in need of our help. Carmilla is responsible for everything, I’m sure of it. I knew from the moment that I first saw her. She’s the one that is orchestrating everything. We have to get her off of this campus.”

“Okay, _you_ freaking out is starting to freak _me_ out.” They gestured to the untidy bedroom. “Look at this place. Clothes on the floor, expired food in the fridge, and is that actual dust I see over there? Perr, I know you’re stressing out over the murders, we all are, and I totally agree with you that there’s a major conspiracy going on, but you can’t just go running to the police over an unexplained milk carton full of blood and a sketchy letter from the Dean. If we falsely accuse one of your floor residents of being the killer, things might not go down so well for us. We’d lose our jobs, Laura might never talk to us again, not to mention that the Dean would certainly be mad. I don’t know about you, but I’d really rather not be on her bad side.”

Perry stood in the middle of her room, her hands on her hips and her foot aggressively tapping against the wood flooring. “If Carmilla is the one, and we sit by and do nothing, things will _go down_ a lot worse than that.”

LaFontaine shook their head. “We’re not detectives. And as much as Laura would like to think she’s already a world-class reporter, she’s just a plucky freshman that let the excitement go to her head. I hate to say it, but I’m back on the fence with this one. I can’t endorse taking action against Carmilla, not without explicit proof.”

Perry pointed to the door. “Out. I need some quiet to think.”

With the weight of the jewelry box in their pocket feeling heavier than usual, LaFontaine left the room. They sat outside in the hallway for a long time. It felt weird to sit there and wait, but it would feel even weirder to leave. Perry had kicked them out in the past, but never like this. Never without a major fight occurring beforehand. Never without a reason.

LaFontaine pulled out the jewelry box and examined its contents. Did Perry know? Did Danny or Laura warn her what they were planning to ask? Was she subconsciously using the stress of the ongoing Silas murders to build a wall between the two of them?

They placed the box back into their pocket. Perry couldn’t hide in that room forever, and they’d be patiently waiting to finish their conversation when she showed.

—

Danny awoke with a gasp, her nightmare fleeing her thoughts before she could even place her location. She was on a stiff mattress on the floor of a dark room. The only light came from an antique floor lamp in the corner. A blanket had been draped across her. She tossed it to the side with sore muscles. She wore only a hoodie, which was much too small for her, and loose athletic shorts with an elastic waistband. She looked at her legs, noticing the lack of dirt and grime. Curiously, she ran a hand through her hair. Silky smooth and still a little damp in the back. Not only had someone put her in this room, they’d clothed and bathed her as well.

She carefully pushed herself off of the mattress and on to her bandaged feet. It hurt to walk on them, but her full bladder was a much greater discomfort. She opened the door and found herself waddling out into a modest living room. She spotted Laura on the couch, asleep with a few thick books still in her lap. The shorter girl stirred from her nap as Danny tried to tiptoe by.

“Danny?” Laura rubbed her eyes. “Hey, Danny, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Bathroom?” Her voice cracked.

Laura scuttled to her side, but Danny flinched away from her. She pointed to the adjacent kitchen with a poorly disguised look of hurt. “The bathroom is right in there.”

Danny slipped into the tiny bathroom, trying not to the bump her head on the hanging lightbulb before clicking it on. She nearly didn’t recognize the sight of her own reflection in the rustic mirror. Her eyes were sunken in, she had split lip, and dozens of thin red scratches lined her cheeks and neck from all the time she’d spent rustling around in thorn bushes. She pulled up the hoodie to examine the sore spot on her ribs and found a purplish yellow bruise. She sat on the toilet, her face dropping to her hands as the tears started to fall.

—

Fists stuffed into her pockets and hood pulled up over her head, Carmilla trudged out into the cold. Every few moments, she would glance ahead to ensure that Sarah Jane was still in sight. She’d been following the girl all day, and much to her displeasure, Sarah Jane was a highly boring person. She had followed her to lunch, to class, to a second class, to the freshman dorm, to dinner, back to the dorm, and now they were back out in the cold again.

She thought about calling Laura to check up on things, but quickly realized that she’d never actually gotten her own roommate’s cell phone number.

Sarah Jane made an abrupt turn, and Carmilla feared that she’d been caught. Hastily turning the corner, she nearly bumped right into Laura’s fidgety floor don friends.

“Excuse you!” The curly one jumped back, pulling the science one with her.

“My bad.” Carmilla rolled her eyes, subtly checking to see where Sarah Jane had gone.

“No.” The brainy one looked at the snooty one. “That was _our_ fault, because _someone_ is too busy arguing all the time to pay any attention to where they’re going.”

The uptight one gasped, her eyes anxiously avoiding Carmilla. “This is not the time for this discussion.”

“It’s never the time for any discussion with you anymore. You’re obsessed with these murders.” The bio major pointed to Carmilla. “Just talk to her already.”

Carmilla blinked. “Talk to me about what? The murders? I certainly hope that you’re not suggesting I had anything to do with them. Because if you are, you should think long and hard about what it is that you want to talk to me about. I might not be so nice with my answers.”

The frantic one took off at a run. The smitten one groaned, tossing back a sarcastic “thanks a lot” as they rushed after her.

Carmilla caught up to Sarah Jane with ease. She’d headed straight to the Zeta Omega Mu fraternity house, which was Carmilla’s second to least favorite hellhole on the Silas campus; the first being the Dean’s office, of course. Zetas, while the majority of them were well-intended dimwits, often harbored at least one or two of the worst kind of human. If not for the fairies, the Zeta house would’ve been a buffet for her by now.

She followed Sarah Jane through the crowded yard, keeping her face hidden beneath her jacket hood. Without warning, a Zeta blocked her path. She looked up at poor frat boy that had chosen tonight of all nights to bug her, but was turned speechless as she stared into a pair of familiar black eyes that she hadn’t seen in almost two decades.

“Fancy meeting you here, Kitty Cat.” Will’s voice was barely loud enough for her to hear over the blaring music. “You know, mother’s not very happy with you. She’s requested that the three of us have a little… _family meeting_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	7. Pretense

Laura fiddled with the cap to her water bottle. She wasn’t usually the type to purchase plastic bottles, but Carmilla had warned against using the cabin’s tap water and she’d been in a bit of a rush. She glanced at Danny, who sat quietly at the other end of the couch. She’d never seen someone look so broken before.

“Do you want me to make you something to eat?” Laura broke the silence.

Danny’s eyes never left the small television box in front of them. It was a sad excuse for entertainment, usually showing more static than picture, but it did gave them something to look at.

Laura apprehensively chewed on her lip. “I brought cans of soup.”

Danny’s brows furrowed, eyes still on the TV box. “Where is she?”

“Carmilla?” Laura sipped from her water to buy herself a few moments. “Um, well, as far as I know…she’s following Sarah Jane around to see if the queen is in her.”

For the first time in over an hour, Danny looked at her. Her bloodshot eyes looked especially blue. “SJ is one of the victims.”

“And the only one that survived.” Laura shrugged. “I know it’s a longshot, but we figured she’d be a good place to start looking.”

“I didn’t realize the two of you were so friendly.” Danny looked at her curiously. “The last I heard, she couldn’t stand to be around you.”

The comment left a sour taste in Laura’s mouth, but she tried her best not to overanalyze it. That was before they had started working together, back when she was sure Carmilla was the killer. Of course she would have thought something like that, it was only natural to dislike someone who disliked you back. “Well, I _did_ accuse her of being a psychotic serial killer. Multiple times. To her face. I wouldn’t have wanted to be around me either. Besides, we’re past all of that now. I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but we’re…we’re getting there. At least, I hope we are.”

Danny narrowed gaze. She looked as if she wanted to say something more, but chose to remain quiet on the issue. Her attention returned to the TV. Laura screwed the cap back on her water bottle while debating with herself on what to say next. Before she could think of a safe conversation topic, Danny turned back to her once more.

“I’m sorry.” She said softly, eyeing the cast on Laura’s wrist. “For hurting you, I mean.”

Laura brushed off the apology. “You don’t have to say you’re sorry. I don’t blame you for what happened. I know that what you’re going through isn’t easy. Carmilla explained the situation to me.”

Danny frowned. “I don’t want to know what she had to say about me.”

“Actually, she defended you. She even tried to say that it was her fault for being wrong about me.” Laura reached out her good arm to place a comforting hand over Danny’s on the couch. She was glad to see that the other girl didn’t pull away from the contact. “The way she talks about you…I can tell that she cares about you. A lot.”

Danny wove her fingers between Laura’s. “Did she tell you how we met?”

“Only that she found you in the forest after you’d been bitten.”

“Do you remember the end of finals week, right before the holidays? Do you remember what we did?”

Laura nodded. “You, me, LaFontaine, and Perry went to an end of the semester party hosted by the Summer Society.”

“That was the night it all started.” Her eyes glazed over as the memories came back to her. “It was late, and I was walking back to my room. I heard a noise in the forest. It sounded like someone calling for help. When I went looking, I ran into a wolf. I tried to run, but it was pointless. He was faster. He knocked me down and I guess I blacked out because the next thing I can remember is waking up tied to a tree. A man was there. He had a fire going.” She paused, swallowing hard. “It was freezing out, but he didn’t wear any clothes. When he noticed I was awake, he offered me some of the meat he was cooking. I asked him what he was going to do to me, and he laughed. He laughed, and he said, ‘that’ll be up to you’. He wanted me to come with him. To follow him. To _join his pack_. He said if I didn’t go with him, he’d put me over the fire and watch me burn. I’d never been so scared. I thought for sure that was it, I was going to die right there and no one would ever know what happened to me. Not my family, not my friends. No one. I don’t know what made him change his mind, but he didn’t kill me when I told him to go to hell. Instead, he grabbed my hair, pulled me toward him, and sunk his teeth into my shoulder. The pain was unbearable. I passed out. When I woke up, he was gone. No fire, no ropes. I was alone in the middle of the woods with no clue of which way led back to campus, and just a dead phone and my room key in my pockets. I tried to find my way back, but it didn’t take long for me to realize what he’d done to me. The first time I changed, I didn’t know what had happened. I just remember feeling warm and safe. I was still scared, but it wasn’t as bad. I could smell _everything_ , I could see in the dark like it was the middle of the day, I could hear every little noise. I didn’t know what was going on or where I was, but I felt stronger. Like I could protect myself. Eventually, pretty quickly actually, I realized I wasn’t human anymore. I’d transformed into an animal…into a wolf.” She glanced at Laura to see if she was still listening. And she was, as intently as ever. “Days went by. I’d lost track of how many. I was starving, weak, just barely surviving. That’s when Carmilla found me. I knew right away that she wasn’t human. There was something about her that made me fear for my life. My instincts told me to attack, to kill her before she could kill me, but that was a fight I never would have won. She showed me mercy, she showed me compassion. She brought me food. I knew she wasn’t human, but seeing her do all of these human things changed everything. I was able to change back, to look human again. All I could do was cry. I felt like I owed her my life. But you know how she is. She just gave me her coat and never brought it up again.” Danny repositioned how she was sitting on the couch, turning to face Laura. “She saved my life, even if she’ll never admit it. She taught me how to control my instincts, how to blend back into life with humans. At first, she didn’t want to tell me about the fairies. She thought she could handle it on her own. But then she moved in with you, and the game changed. She wouldn’t tell me who the queen was inside of, just that she’d figured it out. She’d kept it a secret from me because she wasn’t sure what I would do if I found out one of my friends was being possessed by a dark creature. Then LaFontaine let it slip that you had a new roommate, and I put the pieces together. I went a little crazy, thinking that we’d have to kill you to kill the queen. The longer we waited, the less I could control the impulse to hunt you down. It got to the point where just your scent could have me running across campus ready to attack. I had to stay in the forest. Away from campus, away from you. And the more time that Carmilla spent around you, the less sure she was that the queen was actually in you. The doubt complicated everything even more. Things got so mixed up. And now we’re back at square one like none of it even mattered.”

Laura squeezed her hand. “You are so brave.”

Danny scoffed.

“I’m serious.” Laura pressed on. “I can’t imagine going through what you’ve been through, what you’re _still_ going through. Just look at how far you’ve come in not even a month’s time. You’re amazing, Danny. I really mean that.”

The air shifted, and for a moment a mutual thought crossed their minds. They’d experienced these moments before. The ‘should-we-kiss’ moments, the ‘would-it-be-right’ moments. But they didn’t kiss, because it wasn’t right. It never was right, and it never would be right. They were destined to be friends, nothing more and nothing less.

And that was okay.

“Thank you. For being here and listening.” Danny whispered. “Thank you for forgiving me.”

Laura offered her a supportive smile. “You’re welcome. I’ll always have your back. And I have a feeling I’m not the only one. I don’t know Carmilla that well, but I do know that she’s got _quite_ the soft spot for you.”

Danny found herself smiling. It felt foreign on her lips. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not thinking anything.” Laura fibbed.

“We’re just friends, if that. I don’t even know anymore.” Danny shook her head. “But if anyone should be asking questions like that, it’s me.”

Laura blushed. “ _Me_ and Carmilla? Oh, no. We’re just roommates.”

Danny gave her a knowing look. “I can tell that you like her. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Laura was speechless. Was Danny right? Did she _like_ Carmilla? She couldn’t deny that she wanted to be friends with the broody vampire, but did she crave more than that? The image of Carmilla’s lips sliding back to reveal fangs came to her mind. Carmilla was powerful and dangerous, maybe even indestructible. She’d lived for hundreds of years, Laura wasn’t even sure how old she really was. Not to mention the fact that Carmilla admitted to taking the lives of over four thousand people.

Laura thought back to how thrilling it had been to catch Carmilla’s eyes on her while she dressed. She thought back to the library and about how close their faces had been as they huddled over the farmer’s tale. She thought about how Carmilla had defended Danny’s mistakes and taken the blame, about how the girl spent every night in the forest trying to protect innocent lives, about how angry she’d gotten when Laura had called her a monster.

There was more to her roommate than just bloodlust and snarky comments, she could see that now. Laura sunk into the couch, her blush deepening as she realized Danny was absolutely right.

_Worst. Crush. Ever._

—

Carmilla stood perfectly still in the Dean’s office. She didn’t dare move, not while her mother’s eyes were on her. Will, while slightly more relaxed, showed a similar posture. Their mother had high expectations when it came to things like showing a proper amount of respect.

“My dear.” Her voice filled Carmilla’s stomach with knots. “Thank you for joining William and I this evening.”

“Of course.” It wasn’t like she had much of a choice in the matter.

“I presume you know why I’ve requested your company?”

“Yes.”

“I believe you are also aware that in the last several weeks four students have been attacked, three of which are now dead?”

“Yes.”

She folded her hands together on her desk. “Would you care to explain why you have let three humans die on my campus?”

There were a million things Carmilla wanted to scream. She wanted to protest, to tell her not to point fingers, to explain how hard she’d been trying to stop the fairies. But there was only one thing that she knew was acceptable for her to say. “I must ask for your forgiveness.”

“Chin up, dear.” Her tone was laced with malice. “You’ve yet to fail me. Inconvenience me, disappoint me, but not fail me. Not yet. Now, I’ve instructed William to assist you in ridding Silas of any remaining fairies.”

“Thank you for your mercy, Mother. I will not fail you.” Carmilla remained skeptical. Surely, there would be repercussions.

“I know you won’t.” She replied with a glint in her eye. “Failure, as you know, is a choice, not a result received by chance. You will do as I’ve asked, or you will have chosen to disobey me. And as a reminder that disobedience will always have its consequences, I have given William the precautionary instructions of putting down your little _pet_ should you choose to defy me.”

If her heart could still beat, it would have stopped in that moment.

“Yes, I know all about the newborn pup you’ve let loose on my land. I am fond of you, dear, so I’ve tolerated your mutt, but if you continue to refuse doing what is asked of you, I will no longer turn the other cheek on this matter. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” Despite feeling sick to her stomach, Carmilla kept her tone clear and sharp. To show a sign of weakness would be an egregious mistake.

“I will not hesitate to strip you of the privileges you have enjoyed for so long that you have clearly forgotten that they are, in fact, privileges.” She stood, walking around the formidable desk and placing a bony hand on Carmilla’s shoulder. “I have faith that you will do the right thing.”

—

Danny awoke to the sound of birds chirping. The morning light streamed in through the curtains of the lone bedroom window. She watched the dust particles float around, so carefree and weightless. Laura was snuggled up on her side, sound asleep. Careful not to wake her, she slowly untangled the shorter girl from herself.

It was only after she was standing and heading for the bathroom that she noticed the door was already wide open. Sitting on the couch in the living room was Carmilla. The vampire didn’t acknowledge her as she walked by, nor did she speak when Danny finished in the bathroom. Even as she sat down beside her, Carmilla made no notion of caring.

“What are you doing out here by yourself?” Danny asked after a few moments of tense silence.

Carmilla grimaced. “I didn’t want to interrupt cuddle time.”

Danny sighed. “So that’s what the attitude is about.”

She tossed her a pointed glare. “Excuse me?”

“ _Relax_ , would you?” Danny rolled her eyes. “We were cold when we went to bed, that’s all.”

“So the two of you haven’t…rekindled your affections?” Carmilla asked, doing a poor job at hiding the unmistakable relief on her voice.

“If anything, last night provided some closure for all of that.”

“Well, what did happen during your little slumber party then?”

“We talked.” Danny shrugged. “About everything. About what happened during the holidays, about the fairies…about _you_.”

“Here we go.” Carmilla tried to sound disinterested, but Danny knew her well enough by now to know how deeply curious she was to hear more.

Though Danny’s ego, much like her actual body, was still bruised, she knew that there were a few crucial things Carmilla needed to hear from her. “Laura said that after I tried to attack her, you defended me. She said that you tried to take the blame. I want to say thank you for that, and for not giving up on me. And for saving my life. Again.” Before Carmilla could do anything about it, Danny pulled her into a hug. She didn’t return the embrace, but she didn’t fight it either. “You’ve done so much for me. I won’t ever be able to repay you.”

Carmilla waited for Danny to let go before she replied. “We need to talk.”

“That’s never good.” Danny looked at her hands. “Did the knight kill again?”

“No, but now we’ve got a bigger problem than just fairies on our hands.”

“What, are we dealing with the devil itself?”

“No.” Carmilla shook her head. “We’re dealing with someone much worse than that.”

“Worse?” Danny inquired.

“My mother.”

—

“Hey, Frosh!” Startled, Laura nearly dropped her armful of books as LaFontaine rushed down the dorm hallway toward her. “What’s new? I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

Laura struggled to balance her plethora of books, along with the inconvenient cast on her wrist, so that she could dig through her coat pocket for the room key with her good hand. “Oh, uh, you know, just the usual. Studying for midterms, mostly. How about you?”

LaFontaine grabbed a few of the books for her. “Things are okay, I guess. Perry’s been a nightmare. The murders have her terrified, she hardly ever leaves her room anymore.”

“Well, at least you know she’ll be safe in there.” Laura kicked open the door to Room 307.

“Good point. Oh, hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” LaFontaine followed her in, setting the library books on her desk. “Have you seen Danny at all lately? Apparently the Summer Society officially has her listed as a missing person.”

“They should definitely retract that. I totally saw her just the other day. She’s gone off the grid, you know? Been really into the whole camping and living off the land thing. It’s like a cleanse, but with technology and people and…well, with everything. I’m sure she’ll be back any day now.” Laura poked through the fridge, hoping that LaFontaine wouldn’t see through her lies.

“Where did you see her?” They asked dubiously.

“Uh…” Laura racked her brain but blanked. Luckily, Carmilla strolled through the open door before she had to say anything more.

“Ginger One.” Carmilla greeted LaFontaine dryly. “Where’s Ginger Two at? I could’ve sworn the two of you were connected at the hip.”

LaFontaine backed out of the doorway, their face growing pale. “You mean Perry? She’s probably down the hall in her room. In fact, I should go check up on her. Bye, Laura. Uh, bye…Carmilla.”

Carmilla closed the door behind them with a satisfied nod. Laura rolled her eyes but said nothing.

“How was class?” Carmilla asked as she dragged one of the duffel bags out from beneath her bed.

As she watched Carmilla rummage through the bag, Laura wondered if her question had been genuine or sarcastic. She could never really tell with her, but decided to answer anyway. “I spent most of it reading under my desk about mythical beasts that may or may not actually be mythical. How’s Danny?”

“Back in her dorm room.” Carmilla pulled a long sheathed knife from the bag. “That little tribe of sporty girl scouts has been swarming her all morning.”

Laura’s eyes grew as she took in the size of the knife. “Is that for fairy killing?”

“Something like that.” Carmilla slipped it securely into her boot. “Listen, we don’t really have time for any chitchat, Cupcake. We’ve been given a deadline.”

“A deadline?” Laura took a seat on her bed. “By who? The Dean?”

Carmilla hesitated. “There are a few things I never told you about her.”

Laura took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. The way Carmilla was avoiding making eye contact had her nerves all twisted. “Like what?”

“She’s my mother.” Though her tone was flat and emotionless, a world of anguish swam in her eyes.

“The Dead of students is your _mother_?” Laura gaped.

“Not biologically.” Carmilla sat opposite from Laura, letting her legs dangle over the side of the bed. “She’s the one who gave me my eternal life. In doing so, she adopted me as a part of her family. For a long time, it was just the two of us. I hated her. Hated the insatiable bloodlust she’d cursed me with, hated her cruelty and selfishness. She mistook my general disgust for her as dissatisfaction with my love life. To please me, on a hot summer’s night in 1930 she took a trip down to the morgue and chose the boy she liked the best. Obviously, I had no interest in him, but she kept Will around anyway. He was the perfect son. Even after all these years, he still treats her like she’s a god.”

“If you hate her, why not just leave?” Laura asked.

“I try to.” Carmilla admitted quietly. “I never stop trying. I’ve left a thousand times, but I always come back.”

“Why?” She didn’t want to pry or overstep any boundaries, but she was immensely curious.

Carmilla half-shrugged. “She’s the closest thing to a home that I have.”

Laura wanted to ask more about Carmilla’s undead mother and about life as a vampire and about that would-be-lover turned brother, but she quickly remembered that they were under a time crunch. “When is the deadline?”

“We have until sunrise tomorrow.”

“What happens if we don’t find the queen in time?”

“If I fail, she’ll turn our gargantuan friend into a new fur coat." Carmilla answered.

Laura grimaced at the thought. “Why can’t she just kill the fairies herself?”

“It doesn’t work that way.” Carmilla shook her head. “It’s all one big power trip to her. I mean, really, why have minions if you’re not going to use them? She doesn’t care about the humans being killed. She just wants something to hold over me.”

“Does Danny know all of this?” Laura fidgeted nervously with her hands.

Carmilla nodded. “I told her this morning at the cabin while you were still asleep.”

Laura looked at the stack of books on her desk. “I guess studying for midterms will have to wait.”

“You don’t have to be a part of this.” Carmilla’s tone lacked its usual bite. “If you want out, all you have to do is say so. No one will think less of you.”

“ _I_ would think less of myself.” Laura crossed her arms. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“Aw shucks.” Carmilla rolled her eyes.

“There’s the sarcasm we all know and love.” Laura pulled out her phone. “Alright, now let’s get down to business.”

“What are you doing?” Carmilla asked.

“Calling in some reinforcements.” Laura’s eyes remained on the screen as she dialed.

“Ginger One and Two?” She sighed. “Good luck convincing them that I’m not the killer.”

Laura paced the floor as she waited for LaFontaine to pick up. After a few rings, she gave up. “That’s weird, they usually always answer their phone.”

Carmilla wiggled her eyebrows. “Maybe they’re a little busy, in a sock on the door knob kind of way.”

Laura ignored the comment and grabbed Carmilla’s hand, dragging her out the door and down the hall. They stopped in front of Perry’s official floor don room. Laura knocked once, twice, and finally a third time before she settled for simply barging in.

Placing her hand over her eyes, she pushed open the door and announced their entry. “This is Laura and Carmilla coming in. I hope you’re decent.”

Carmilla groaned. “I don’t think you’ll have any trouble convincing Dumb and Dumber that I’m not the killer.”

Laura lowered her hand and gasped as her eyes followed a wet trail of blood to the window, where red hand prints showed clear signs of a struggle.

“Oh my god.” Laura’s voice was shaky. “They took Perry and LaFontaine.”

“No.” Carmilla clarified. “ _Perry_ took LaFontaine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	8. Purity

Laura stood with her trembling arms wrapped around herself. She’d never gone into the forest alone before. Carmilla had told her to say in Room 307 while she went to see Danny, but how could Laura really be expected to do something like that? The queen was in Perry! LaFontaine was in mortal danger!

The snap of a twig caused her to jump. With wide eyes, she scanned the surrounding foliage. Her heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest from beating so fast. She had made the decision to run off into the woods impulsively. They needed to catch the knight before it found LaFontaine and the queen, and somehow the idea of turning herself into live bait seemed like the perfect plan. If nothing else, she could buy Carmilla and Danny a little extra time.

A glowing light appeared before her. Like a transfixed prey being lured into the waiting jaws of an anglerfish, she walked toward it. Logically, she knew what was happening, but the light drew her in regardless. It left a warm feeling in her body, her nerves fading away. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the glowing orb. It was so beautiful. She felt lucky to witness such rare beauty. She felt special. She felt chosen.

A thunderous roar from behind startled her, effectively putting an end to her involuntary fascination. Laura ducked down as a large fiery wolf leapt between her and the light. The fur at that the back of Danny’s neck bristled as she growled menacingly at the knight fairy. Laura let out a breath of relief. Being on this side of Danny’s ferocity was much nicer than being the focus of it.

A solid hand clamped down on Laura’s shoulder. Its owner crouched down beside her. Laura smiled uneasily at her. Carmilla wasn’t pleased. “Remind me later to explain in detail to you exactly what ‘ _stay in the room_ ’ means.”

The two roommates watched as Danny charged at the light. Laura could feel each strike of her paws against the earth vibrate through her chest like a bass drum. Danny sprang into the air. For a moment, Laura thought she had simply passed right through the light as if it had truly been nothing but air all along. But as Danny’s paws returned to the ground and she faced them again, it became apparent that the glowing light was trapped inside her mouth.

“Do _not_ eat that.” Carmilla warned. She stood, pulling Laura up with her. “I may not know how to kill the knight or the queen, but I have a feeling that trying to digest one isn’t going to be a pleasant experience.”

Danny growled in response, throwing her head from side to side.

“Must not taste very good.” Laura laughed weakly as her bundle of nerves returned in full force.

Carmilla’s hand released Laura’s shoulder and moved to lightly grasp her forearm. “I’m taking you back to campus.”

“No!” Laura exclaimed. “LaFontaine needs our help. We don’t have any time to waste. We have to find them and Perry.”

Conflicted, Carmilla finally released her hold on Laura altogether. She faced Danny, whose clenched jaws effortlessly contained the thrashing fairy within. “Track them down. Other than Laura, they’ll be the only human scents for miles. Make sure the knight doesn’t get free.”

Danny jogged over to Laura and kneeled down on her front paws. Before Laura could question what was happening, Carmilla lifted her into the air and placed her on Danny’s back.

“Hold on tight, Creampuff.” Carmilla instructed, her hands lingering on Laura’s sides for a moment. She pulled back, giving Danny and Laura some space. A look of genuine concern for Laura’s safety crossed her face as she took in the full view of such a tiny human sitting on the back of such a large wolf.

Danny’s nose raised into the air, sniffing for any sign of LaFontaine or Perry. Laura wrapped her arms around Danny’s neck, noting how soft her fur was. Danny took off at a sprint, and Laura held on for dear life. The sheer speed at which they traveled dizzied her. Every hop over a fallen tree or abrupt turn of direction only increased how lightheaded she felt. They came to a full stop without warning, and Laura tumbled to the ground with shaky limbs. Carmilla’s face came into view.

“I feel sick.” She grumbled as Carmilla pulled her to her feet.

“That makes two of us.” Hearing LaFontaine’s voice made Laura turn on her heels so fast that she almost fell back over. They were approximately fifteen yards away, sitting with their back to a tree. Blood was smeared across their forehead and the left side of their face. Their clothes were dirty and torn in several places, probably from being dragged across the muddy ground.

Perry stood beside LaFontaine, hands on her hips and foot anxiously tapping. Danny and Carmilla remained on either side of Laura, both exhibiting defensive stances. In the middle of it all stood a handsome boy wearing a short sleeve Zeta t-shirt and a smug grin.

He glanced over his shoulder, flashing Carmilla a toothy smile. A pair a sharp fangs gleamed in the low light. “About time you joined us, Kitty Cat.”

—

Carmilla took a step forward, positioning herself so that she was partially shielding Laura from Will’s view. It had been an unintentional move on her part, but he noticed all the same. “Your assistance is not required.”

“Come on, Kitty.” He gestured to Perry and LaFontaine. “You know how I love a good beheading.”

Perry’s hands dropped to her sides. Her gaze traveled from Will to Carmilla to Laura to Danny and finally settled on the faint glowing light that was emitting from Danny’s mouth. In one fluid motion, Perry pulled LaFontaine from a sitting position to their knees. She held LaFontaine in place with a fistful of their hair, her other hand sliding around their neck to constrict their airway. LaFontaine struggled as their face turned red enough to match the blood on their skin.

Danny growled ferociously. Carmilla held out a cautionary hand, silently pleading Danny remain in control of her instincts. From behind her, Laura gently tugged at the back of her coat. She whispered to Carmilla, “The farmer’s tale. ‘ _I do unto you only as you have to me_ ’. Fairies recognize the concept of justice. Of fairness. We can use that.”

Carmilla looked past Will to Perry. “We’ll trade you. Yours for ours.”

“I have none of your kind.” Perry’s grip remained tight on LaFontaine’s throat, but lessened just enough so that they could breathe again.

“We want the humans.” Carmilla explained. “Alive. Give us the humans, and you can have your knight.”

Will clicked his tongue. “I hate to break up the happy ending here, but Mother said—“

“Fuck what she said!” Carmilla snapped. She looked back to Perry. “Do we have a deal or not?”

“You would have us go free?” Perry questioned, suspicious. “Why?”

“It’s the right thing to do.” Carmilla defended. “There doesn’t need to be any more bloodshed. This trade will make us even.”

Will shook his head in awe. “You know what Mother will do when she finds out about this. She won’t stop at just the wolf, she’ll want all of them dead.”

Carmilla kept her focus on Perry, ignoring Will’s increasingly evident panic.

“You killed my children.” Perry said, her voice heavy with emotion.

“I did.” Carmilla admitted. “And you killed innocent humans in vampire territory. _We’re even_.”

“I accept.” Perry let go of LaFontaine, who fell into a coughing fit on the ground.

With a howl, Danny released the knight. It shot into the air, illuminating the growing darkness. Perry’s body began to violently shake before falling limp. LaFontaine, still struggling to catch their breath, reached out and awkwardly caught her. From her ear, a small light floated into the air and joined the knight. The group, minus the still frantic Will, watched in relief as the lights danced above them in a spectacular neon show.

—

Danny pulled on the spare clothes she’d left at the cabin. Now that everyone was aware she could transform into a giant wolf, the whole being naked after transforming back into her human form was a much trickier ordeal. Even though the sun had set and the darkness would have hid her, she wasn’t taking any chances of being seen.

She rejoined everyone in the living room, noticing how close Carmilla and Laura were sitting on the couch. LaFontaine and Perry sat beside them. Perry hadn’t said much since waking, just that the last thing she could remember was arriving back to campus early after the holiday break. Laura had done her best at explaining things to them both, even getting Carmilla to grudgingly help out every now and then, but it was a lot of information to process.

LaFontaine softly touched at the stitches on their forehead. They glanced at Carmilla. “Are you sure you did this right?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Carmilla replied assertively. “It’s a talent I picked up during the war.”

“ _The war_?” LaFontaine and Laura said in unison.

“Don’t let her fool you.” Will snickered from the corner. Honestly, Danny had sort of forgotten he was even there. “Running around in a French soldier’s uniform pretending to be a human boy doesn’t make you a war hero.”

Carmilla glared at him. “I was stitching up amputated legs and putting dying men out of their misery before you could even crawl.”

He crossed his arms. “What about that second human war, huh? Did you valiantly run into battle on that one? No? Oh, that’s right, you were too busy seducing lonely housewives to help out.”

Carmilla jumped to her feet. “You were there for _one_ human war. I’ve lived through _centuries_ of them.”

“We needed you!” He shouted, surprising everyone. “They took our home. They overran our streets. They took the whole damn country! Mother lost _everything_. The family estate, her priceless possessions, her territory. All of it, gone. Just like you were.”

“I came back.” Carmilla said, her voice wavering slightly. “I came back as soon as the Germans left.”

“You came back too late.” Will shook his head. “And Mother had to settle for this sorry excuse for a school as her new territory.”

“It’s not like my presence would have changed anything! The humans still would have taken her land, the other creatures still would have disregarded her territory.” Carmilla fired back. “I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t sit through another one of those pathetic wars. I had to get out. I had to go to a place where I wouldn’t see dead children in the streets or wake up to the sound of gunfire. The wars change, the humans change, but the consequences always stay the same.”

He huffed, turning like he was heading for the door but stopping short. He spun back to face her. “I will never understand why she favors you.”

“She only does it to hurt you. Why can’t you see that? In all these years, the only nice thing that she’s ever done for you is _not kill you_. You’re nothing more than a naïve henchman to her.”

Will stared hard at Carmilla as he processed her words. Danny took the momentary silence as an opportunity to glance around. LaFontaine and Perry were cowering in their seats, both frightened of what might happen if two vampires got into a fistfight. Laura’s eyes were on Carmilla. She sat apprehensively at the edge of the couch, as if she was ready to jump between the angry vampires if she needed to. Danny internally sighed, not surprised in the least. It was so typical. Laura never seemed to display any concern for her own safety.

The tension broke as Will’s shoulders slumped. “We have to go see her. Before sunrise. If she comes looking for us....” He glanced around at all the faces watching him. “She won’t like what she finds.”

Danny cleared her throat. “Let her come. Let her find us.”

“She’ll kill you. All of you.” Will sneered.

Danny looked between the vampires. “There’s three of us and only one of her.”

“ _Four_ of us.” Laura corrected. The others ignored her.

“You expect us to kill our own mother?” Will questioned.

Danny shrugged. “Would that not solve everything? You’d get your freedom back. No more doing what she wants.”

“It’s an option we have to consider.” Carmilla lowered her voice. It was clear that she was struggling with the idea almost as much as Will was. “We’re obviously bound to her by some bizarre inescapable force. Killing her might be the only way out.”

He tilted his head to the side. “What if I don’t want out?”

Carmilla gave him a look that Danny couldn’t quite define. If she had to guess, she’d say it looked something like pity. “Will, existing with her is never going to change.”

He hesitated. “She’s the only thing I have.”

“You have me.” Carmilla’s voice fell to just above a whisper. “I think a part of her wanted us to hate each other. If we never got along, we’d never work together. Never try to overthrow her.”

“I’d never answer to you.” He warned.

“I wouldn’t want you to.” She replied truthfully. “No one has to take her place.”

The pair of siblings took their conversation outside, probably to discuss in detail what they planned to do next. Danny sat with her legs crossed on the floor. LaFontaine returned to touching their stitches, Perry continued staring off into space, and Laura grumbled about not being included with the plan to assassinate the Dean of students.

—

Carmilla stood inside Room 307, looking around at it for possibly the final time. If things didn’t go as planned, there would be no coming back. Her mother would never allow it. She looked at the fridge, full of Laura’s organic garbage. At the cabinet, full of Laura’s sugary desserts. At the wardrobe, full of Laura’s clothes. At the desk with Laura’s books and Laura’s computer and Laura’s dorky mug. At Laura’s bed. At Laura’s yellow pillow. Finally, she looked at Laura, who stood close by. She was so sweet, so innocent. So adorable.

Laura took a small step forward. “I want to go with you.”

“Sorry, Cupcake. I can’t let you do that.”

“I don’t want to just sit by and do nothing.” She stepped forward again. “Please, I want to help.”

Carmilla took in her features. Her hair, her eyes, her freckles, her lips. “Earlier, when I asked you to stay here and you went into the forest…when I came back and you weren’t here...” She swallowed hard. “Not even facing my mother compares to how scared I was that you’d be dead by the time we found you.”

Laura’s bottom lip trembled as she fought back tears. “It’s not fair. We never even had a chance to get to know each other. I don’t even know what your favorite color is. I don’t even know how old you are!”

“I like the color black.” She answered softly. “Technically, I’m eighteen. But really it’s more like three hundred and thirty-four.”

A sad smile touched Laura’s lips. “I was wrong about you. You _are_ a good person. The best that I’ve ever met.”

With every fiber of her being, Carmilla wanted to kiss her. But she didn’t. Because she knew it wouldn’t be fair to either of them if she did. “I have to go.”

“Carm, if you don’t come back—“

“I’ll be back.” Carmilla cut her off, smiling at the nickname. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Gryffindor.”

She left just as the tears started to fall from Laura’s eyes. It broke her heart to see how emotional Laura had become at the thought of losing her. She took a moment to compose herself, then headed down the stairwell. She went straight to Danny, who was waiting outside of the freshman dorm.

The tall redhead pointed up at the third floor. “How did the queen get out of Perry’s window with LaFontaine?”

“I don’t know.” Carmilla looked up at the third floor, noticing that only two rooms still had their lights on. “I guess they had a soft landing on those bushes.”

“From the third floor?” Danny raised a skeptical brow.

She shrugged, her gaze falling to the space between them.

Danny glanced around to check that they were alone. “Listen, I know you don’t want me in there with you, but I can—“

“No.” Carmilla interrupted. “The plan is to catch her off guard. It’s the only shot we have of taking her down. Just stay close to the building and wait. If we fail, you’ll have to be ready to make a run for it.”

“You won’t fail.” Danny smiled encouragingly. “You’re too stubborn to fail.”

“Thanks.” It started as a sarcastic remark, but turned sincere. “Really, though. I mean it. Thank you. You’ve been, uh…you’ve been a good friend to have.”

“I’ll still be your friend when you get back.”

“I know, but if I don’t come back…” She trailed off.

“Oh, you’ll be back.” Danny nodded toward the light from Room 307. “Someone has to keep her out of trouble.”

Carmilla looked up at the window and sighed. “There’s not a force in this world that could keep Laura Hollis out of trouble.”

Danny laughed. “You’re probably right about that.”

In a move that surprised them both, Carmilla took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Danny. Carmilla had never initiated a hug between them before, and she was usually unenthusiastic to return any sort of embrace that Danny ever instigated, but Danny returned the hug without hesitation or quip.

“You’ve been a good friend, too.” She said, resting her chin on the top of Carmilla’s head.

—

LaFontaine sat on Perry’s bed, watching her clean. “Perr, it’s late. You can tidy up the place tomorrow. The mess will still be here, I promise.”

Perry’s entire body shook with frustration. “I don’t even know what day _tomorrow_ is.”

“It’ll be the Saturday before midterms.” LaFontaine informed her.

With a huff, she sat on the bed beside them. “How did this happen? One second I’m putting away my groceries, and the next thing I know I’m waking up in the forest with a giant wolf licking my face.”

“Danny was just trying to wake up you.” They defended. “And obviously it worked.”

Perry crossed her arms. “That was not _Danny_. I refuse to believe that.”

LaFontaine sighed. “I know it’s all a bit hard to believe, I’m having some issues with it myself, but I saw that fairy thing or whatever come out of you. I saw that Zeta guy’s _fangs_.” They shuddered. “I completely believe that Carmilla is a vampire. It explains everything, especially the blood in the soy milk.”

Perry threw her hands in the air. “Why was there blood in your soy milk?”

“Not my soy milk, Carmilla’s soy milk.”

“How do we even know her again? I’ve never seen her or her creepy brother before.”

LaFontaine fidgeted with their hands. “Well, like I said before, Carmilla is Laura’s roommate. They’ve been roommates since the spring semester began. We, well, me and the fake you spent the last several weeks convinced Carmilla was the one killing students. But it was really the fairy things the whole time.”

“Fairies. Vampires. Werewolves.” Perry shook her head, defeated. “This like a terrible nightmare I can’t wake up from.”

“Hey, come here.” LaFontaine put their arm around Perry’s shoulders. “It’ll be alright.”

Perry looked at them. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’d probably still be under Tinkerbell’s vaguely parasitic mind control.” Their heart swelled as Perry cracked a smile. “But you’re safe now.”

Perry nodded and glanced around the room. They’d done a poor job at cleaning up the blood from the floor and window. Clothes were still scattered everywhere. Abruptly, she stood and walked over to a pile of shirts near where the trail of blood had been. She stooped down and picked something up.

“What’s this?” She asked, opening the small jewelry box.

LaFontaine rubbed the back their head. “Yeah, about that. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

—

“Come in.”

A shiver ran down Carmilla’s spine at the sound of her mother’s voice. Will opened the door to the Dean’s office, politely allowing Carmilla to enter first. It was late into the night, no students would be around to see them, but their mother always insisted that they show proper etiquette regardless of who was around to see. Some habits were hard to break.

They stood before her desk with their perfect postures and their emotionless expressions, awaiting permission to speak. Their mother set down the pen she was writing with and checked the time.

“Dawn is almost upon us.” She said flatly. “I was beginning to worry.”

“Apologies, Mother.” Will tucked his hands together behind his back in a formal show of feigned relaxation.

She looked to Carmilla. “It is done then?”

Carmilla nodded. “The right thing has been done, yes.”

“Both the queen and the knight are dead?” She pressed.

“Yes, Mother.” Will answered.

She kept her eyes on Carmilla, narrowing them. “I did not ask you, William.”

“Forgive me.” He bowed his head. “The night has been long.”

She stood from her desk, walking around it until she stood directly in front of Carmilla. She towered over her. “I’ll ask once more. Are both the queen and knight dead?”

Carmilla knew she couldn’t lie. It would be too obvious. Their mother would know. And if she was going to find out the truth anyway, why not have it be on Carmilla’s terms? “I made a deal with the fairies. I spared them their lives in the exchange for two human lives. They fled the forest, and won’t be returning.”

At first, their mother did nothing, but after a moment’s deliberation, she struck a strong palm into the center of Carmilla’s chest. She fell backward to the floor. Will rushed between them, standing up against their mother for the first time.

“William.” She was surprised, but almost pleasantly so. “How nice of you to join the family.”

He tried to deflect her strike, but it was pointless. She was faster. She slapped his face so hard that Carmilla feared she’d broken his jaw. He tumbled backward, losing his footing. She slowly walked over to where he had fallen, looking down at him with a smirk. During the distraction, Carmilla unsheathed the large knife from her boot. She lunged at their mother, whose fangs were bared. Will kicked their mother’s feet out from under her. She dropped to her knees, and in the split second window they had to work with, Will moved to capture her hands behind her back and Carmilla placed the sharp blade at her throat.

She laughed. She laughed, and looked into Carmilla’s eyes with confidence. “Well, isn’t this interesting.”

“No more mind games.” Will said through gritted teeth. “It’s over.”

“It’s over alright.” She mused. Her eyes remained locked with Carmilla’s. “You’re _nothing_ without me.”

“We’re better off without you.” Will spat.

“After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?” She asked.

“You’ve failed us.” Carmilla pressed the knife harder into her skin. “And failure, as you know, is a choice, not a result received by chance.”

She smiled broadly. “I didn’t fail. Look at you now, you’re perfect. You’re finally ready to take what is rightfully yours.”

Carmilla wanted to cringe, but powered through the disgust. It was only another manipulation tactic. Reverse psychology. Her words meant nothing. “This is the end for you.”

If possible, she grew even smugger. “Darling, this is far from the end.”

“You’re right.” Carmilla acknowledged, getting a concerned look from Will. Their mother’s smile faltered as a glimpse of hope crossed her face. Carmilla leaned in closer. “I’ll see you in Hell.”

—

Laura sat alone in Room 307, blankly staring at the pages of a textbook. She was too worried to study. She hated that she had to sit and wait, especially alone. Things had been good at the cabin, being surrounded by everyone. Being left alone in her room was awful. She understood that LaFontaine and Perry needed some alone time to readjust and work through their eventful evenings, and she understood that Danny had responsibilities with the Summer Society to take care of, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t suck.

She jumped to her feet as the room door swung open. Will stood in the doorway. Laura felt her knees start to give out, but before she could ask if Carmilla had died, the girl appeared at his side. Laura, relieved beyond belief, started giggling.

Will’s brows furrowed. “Is she okay?”

Carmilla smiled. “Better than okay, I’d say.”

Will shook his head but dropped the concern. “So you’re sure you don’t want to hit that blood bank with me? I worked up a real appetite. I know you’ve got to be starving, too.”

“I’m fine.” Carmilla answered, practically pushing him out the door. “ _You’re_ the one that gets hungry during times of violence, remember?”

He grinned. “You know how I love a good beheading.”

She rolled her eyes and shut the door on him. By the time she turned back around, Laura was already halfway across the room. Without hesitation or comment, Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla’s neck and brought their lips together. Carmilla returned the kiss immediately, her hands moving to Laura’s sides. It was passionate and long, neither girl wanting it to end. When they parted, Laura smiled.

“You came back.” She whispered.

“Was there ever any doubt that I would?” Carmilla mirrored her smile.

“I was so worried.”

“I guess now we’re even.”

Laura blushed. “I’ll never go into the forest without you again, I promise.”

“Good.” Carmilla whispered before capturing Laura’s lips with her own. They kissed and they kissed, and then they kissed some more. It was never enough.

Finally, Laura pulled away. “Quick question: are you hungry? Will said you’re probably starving, and I know it’s been a while since the soy milk ran out.”

“It’s okay. I’ll live.” Carmilla shrugged. “Besides, going all the way into town with him for a snack meant being away from you for far too long.”

Laura’s heart skipped a beat as an idea came to her. “I could be your snack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	9. Passion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: The following chapter contains explicit sexual content and blood drinking. It is not essential to the overall plot and can be skipped if smut isn’t your thing.

Kissing. Oh how she loved to kiss. She’d kissed a thousand pretty girls throughout the centuries, but none of them compared to this. Kissing Laura was something entirely new to her. She’d never been nervous to kiss a girl before, never been so completely captivated by the way a girl’s soft lips touched her own. Never been so scared that she’d wake up from this perfect dream.

When Laura pulled away and asked if she was hungry, she had feared the worst. Was she scared that Carmilla would bite her? Frightened by the realization that she was kissing a creature that could easily overpower her? Carmilla felt the weight of her own strength crushing down on her.

“It’s okay. I’ll live.” She tried to brush it off. Laura didn’t need to know that she was starving, or that her bloodlust was beginning to cloud the edges of her vision. She’d sneak off later, after Laura fell asleep, and find an animal in the forest to soothe her hunger. She absolutely loathed the taste of nonhuman blood, but if it meant she could spend even just a few more moments kissing Laura, she’d suffer through it. “Besides, going all the way into town with him for a snack meant being away from you for far too long.”

Laura’s cheek grew rosy as she sheepishly suggested, “I could be your snack.”

Several things occurred in the following moments. The first, and most noticeable, was that Carmilla grew incredibly thirsty. Just the idea of feeding from Laura made her mouth water. The second, was that she grew incredibly aroused. Women had always offered themselves to her, even for feeding upon, but the way Laura was looking at her made it feel like the first time all over again. Lastly, she felt surprisingly nervous. When drinking the blood of a human, there was a fine line between pain and pleasure. She had perfected her technique long ago, but still she worried. What if she scared her off?

What if she hurt her?

—

Laura tried to steady her breathing. At first she thought her heart was only pounding so fast because of nerves, but one look at the hunger in Carmilla’s eyes dismissed that notion. She wasn’t nervous, she was just unbelievably turned on. The room suddenly felt warmer than before. Her skin was on fire as she watched Carmilla’s pupils dilate and her lips part to reveal pointy fangs.

“You sure about that, Cupcake?” She asked with her sultry voice. Had it always been that sexy?

Laura nodded dumbly before answering. “Yes!” _Too eager_. “I mean, yeah, sure.” _Too casual_. “If you would even want to, that is.”

“Oh.” Carmilla’s voice dropped even lower. “You have no idea.”

Carmilla would never purposefully hurt her, Laura knew that. This was someone who used their body to shield Laura from being stomped into the ground by a wolf, someone who cared more about Laura’s safety than her own. The look on Carmilla’s face made everything perfectly clear to her. Despite all of the vampire’s immense strength and her centuries of experience and her powers of seduction, Laura was the one in control. The realization gave her a surge of confidence.

With a small step forward, she closed the space between them. As their lips met, Laura tangled her good hand in Carmilla’s hair. She let her cast rest on Carmilla’s shoulder while her fingers gently wrapped around the back of the vampire’s neck. A spark of fluttery excitement pulsed through Laura’s body when Carmilla’s tongue ran across her own. In a fluid motion, Carmilla picked Laura up and placed her on her bed.

“It won’t be painless.” She warned as she straddled Laura’s hips.

“I don’t mind.” Laura reassured her. “I trust you.”

Carmilla kissed her. It was hot and rough, but slowed until it was just the sensual lingering of lips. She leisurely trailed a few kisses down Laura’s jawline and neck. Laura had never felt such desire before, such need. Carmilla seemed determined to take her time, and the suspense made every little touch that much more stimulating.

Carmilla’s fingers began unbuttoning Laura’s shirt, starting at the bottom and working their way up. When the last button was undone, she pushed the fabric aside until Laura’s shoulder was exposed. She moved her lips from Laura’s neck to her collar bone, eventually journeying to her left shoulder. Laura swallowed hard. She had assumed Carmilla would’ve gone for her neck, though a bite mark on her neck would’ve been much harder to hide than one on her shoulder. Her thoughts quickly returned to Carmilla’s movements as she began running her tongue along the area she planned to feed from. The whole thing felt incredibly primal and erotic.

Carmilla grazed her fangs lightly against Laura’s skin. They were sharp. _Very_ sharp. Laura took in a deep breath. Before she could exhale, Carmilla’s fangs sunk into her shoulder. After the initial shock of being bitten faded, and the sharp pang of discomfort subsided to a dull sting, Laura found that having a vampire drink your blood was a dizzyingly wonderful experience.

She felt utterly alive. It was a natural high, like riding a roller coaster. It was so thrilling, to be so completely safe in a position of such striking visceral danger. Her eyes slipped shut and her head fell back. She wanted to take in as much of this feeling as she possibly could. A lustful moan rumbled in Carmilla’s throat, possibly from the relief of having her thirst quenched, but more likely from seeing Laura in such a heightened state of ecstasy.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. Carmilla licked her lips, the slightest hint of red still on her tongue. “How do you feel?”

“Great.” Laura admitted with a goofy smile. “That was kind of amazing.”

Carmilla let her eyes wander down the front of Laura’s open top. “You haven’t even seen amazing yet, Cutie.”

Still on an adrenaline rush, Laura asked, “What did I taste like?”

Carmilla smirked. “I haven’t found out yet.”

She had expected a snarky comment about tasting like sugary sweets, but was much more pleased with the answer she received. Laura reached up and pulled Carmilla down to her, crushing their lips together again. She slid out of her unbuttoned shirt, taking a moment to keep her cast from getting caught in the sleeve, before gripping the thick fabric of Carmilla’s sweater and pulling it over the vampire’s head.

“You’re so beautiful.” Laura knew she wasn’t the first person to tell Carmilla this. She’d probably heard a million times before. “I mean, obviously there’s way more to you than just your looks…but I just thought I’d say it anyway.”

Carmilla’s features softened. “Yeah, well, I’ve got nothing on you.”

Laura smiled at how bashful Carmilla had grown. She kissed her, keeping it soft and slow, trying to express all the things she couldn’t form into words. Abruptly, Laura felt unnervingly lightheaded. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

“Are you okay?” Carmilla asked, noticing the change immediately.

“I don’t know.” Laura focused on her breathing as a chill ran down her spine.

“You look pale.” Her face fell. “I took too much, didn’t I?”

Laura shook her head, which only served to increase the dizziness.

“Try sitting up.” Carmilla helped prop Laura against her pillows. “Do you feel sick?”

“No, just…” She chose her words carefully. “Tired.”

Carmilla moved to sit beside her. She looked worried, but even more than that she looked guilty. “I’m so sorry, Laura. I should’ve known better, you’re so small…I just wasn’t thinking—“

“Hey.” Laura cut her off. She turned her head to face her and smiled. “It’s not your fault. It’s just been a long day. I didn’t realize how exhausted I am. There’s been _quite_ a lot of excitement.”

Carmilla hopped to her feet, bounding across the room to grab something out of the cabinet. She returned with a package of cookies. “Eat some of these. It’ll help.”

Laura took a few of the offered cookies. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew it would be worse to turn them down than to eat a handful. Carmilla visibly relaxed as Laura bit into one. As she chewed, Laura couldn’t help but giggle at the scene. Carmilla stood before her, shirtless and holding a half-empty package of cookies, looking like she’d just kicked a puppy by accident.

“What’s so funny?” Carmilla asked, unable to contain a few laughs of her own.

“All of this.” Laura shrugged. “You, me, cookies in bed. None of it feels real.”

Carmilla looked down at herself, at the cookies in her hand, at the ones in Laura’s palm, at Laura. She smiled. “Don’t get too used to it, Princess.”

Even as Carmilla said the words, Laura knew it wasn’t true. She had the broody vampire wrapped around her finger. “Get back over here, I’m cold.”

With a grin, Carmilla tossed the package aside and slid back on to Laura’s bed. She pulled the covers over them. “Better?”

“Much.” Laura leaned over and kissed her. “You know, things turned out pretty good considering that we all almost died today.” She paused. “So, can I ask…what happened with the Dean?”

Carmilla reclined in the bed, her fingers lazily running along the cast on Laura’s wrist. “Everything went according to plan.”

“So she’s really gone forever.” Laura took another bite. “How do you feel about that?”

“Good. I won’t be having any regrets about it, but Will might once the excitement has worn off.” She shrugged. “It had to be done. There was never going to be another way out. I’m tired of killing, tired of fighting her wars for her.”

Laura nodded as she swallowed the last bite of cookie. “So, now that she’s gone…what are you going to do?”

Carmilla glanced up at her. “I don’t know.”

“You could go anywhere in the world.” She wiped the crumbs from her mouth. “There’s nothing keeping you here anymore.”

“I’ve already been around the world.” Carmilla said. “And just because she’s gone, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing keeping me here.”

Laura grinned. “Aw, I didn’t realize you valued your education so much.”

Carmilla laughed. “We both know that’s not what I mean.”

“It’s not?” Laura tapped her chin. “Hmm, must be the scenic campus then. I hear the forest is a great place for long hikes and camping.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Did your little floor don friend tell you that?”

“Oh, I know.” Laura perked up. “It’s the food they serve in the café, isn’t it? I mean, I don’t really see the appeal of slop that will start moving if you leave it out too long, but whatever floats your bloat.”

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” Carmilla sighed. “Fine, you win. I’m sticking around this hellhole because it just so happens to be the place where the few people I actually care about are. I’ve never really had friends before…at least, not ones that lasted.” She hesitated. “But I want to make this last.”

“Are we friends?” Laura asked uncertainly.

“Of course we are.” She answered.

“Oh, okay. That’s good.”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “I can never really tell if you like me or not.”

Carmilla rolled over so that she was sitting on Laura’s lap facing her. She leaned down and kissed her lips before saying, “I don’t think I could stay away from you even if I tried.”

Laura blushed. “I’m glad this whole liking each other thing is mutual. If it hadn’t been, well, that would’ve gotten awkward really fast.”

Carmilla smirked. “What would you have done?” She placed a soft kiss on Laura’s neck. “Would you have told me?” Another kiss. “Have kept it to yourself?” She brought her lips close to Laura’s ear. “Would you have touched yourself thinking about me?”

Laura swallowed hard as her arousal returned in full force. “It’s a little too late for that last one.”

Carmilla purred against her neck, her lips lightly kissing along the sensitive skin there. Her hands moved to Laura’s back, undoing her bra. Laura copied the movements and tossed Carmilla’s bra to the floor where their shirts had been discarded. Their lips met again as Carmilla cupped Laura’s breasts, earning a soft moan from her.

“Do you feel better?” Carmilla asked between kisses.

“Oh yeah.” Laura smiled against her lips. “You don’t have to worry about me so much, you know.”

“I can’t help it.” Carmilla admitted as she slid one of her hands down Laura’s stomach, beneath her sweatpants, and under her panties. “There’s just…” Her finger brushed against Laura’s clit, causing the smaller girl to gasp. “Something about you.”

Carmilla circled her clit teasingly slow. She smiled when Laura’s eyes fluttered shut and watched as her head fell back against the yellow pillow. Quiet moans slipped past her parted lips at every gentle stroke of Carmilla’s finger. Carmilla leaned down and flicked one of Laura’s hardened nipples with her tongue before taking it into her mouth. Laura’s good hand became tangled in Carmilla’s hair.

Carmilla moved her finger further down, slipping it inside of Laura. She pumped it in and out at a gentle rhythmic pace. She trailed kisses back up Laura’s chest and neck, taking a moment to kiss the reddened bite mark on her shoulder. She slid a second finger in, keeping her pace steady and working Laura’s clit with her palm.

“Oh my god.” Laura breathed. Her hips started to move on their own, matching the rhythm of Carmilla’s lithe fingers. Carmilla increased her speed, paying close attention to the ways Laura responded to her touch. Just when Laura’s back would begin to arch or her breath would hitch or her grasp in Carmilla’s hair would tighten, she would ease back. It was torture. It was sweet, sweet torture. Laura had never experienced such arousal. To be brought to the brink of climax and denied her release, it was like nothing she’d ever felt before.

Just when Laura was starting to think that she’d have to beg for her own orgasm, Carmilla whispered to her, “Hold on tight, Creampuff.” There was no more holding back after that. Carmilla’s fingers worked her over like they were made to touch her. Laura opened her eyes so that she could look at the other girl. Seeing her own arousal reflected back at her, seeing such devotion to maximizing her pleasure, it was more than enough to push her over the edge. She came with a loud moan while looking into Carmilla’s eyes. Her legs shook as her clit pulsed with unadulterated sensual release.

Carmilla kissed her lips, her jaw, her cheek, her forehead, and her nose while she patiently waited for Laura to catch her breath.

Laura grinned. “I sure am glad we’re friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me if you'd like: puntrest.tumblr.com


	10. Promises

Carmilla used her finger to trace patterns across Laura’s bare back. The sun filtered in through the window, revealing the mess they’d made during their late night activities. Clothes littered the floor, both of their beds were a mess, and she was almost certain there was a crushed up cookie or two somewhere around their feet. Laura’s eyes peeked open, a smile spreading across her face.

“Morning, Sunshine.” Carmilla smiled. There was never going to be an option with that, the whole smiling back thing. Laura had that effect on her.

“Good morning.” Laura replied drowsily. She stretched, gasping and throwing her good hand up to her shoulder as she did. “Wow. Okay. That’s a little sore.”

Carmilla stared at the two small puncture wounds on Laura’s skin feeling incredibly guilty. “Sorry.”

“No, hey, don’t be.” Laura moved her hand to cup Carmilla’s cheek. “It’s not that bad. I just kind of forget about it, that’s all.”

They kissed, and just like all the other times they had kissed in the last twelve hours, Carmilla never wanted it to end. Laura rolled herself out of bed and continued stretching. Carmilla indulged in the view. Laura was a beauty. It didn’t matter what she was doing. Clumsily removing her clothes beneath the sheets, accidentally elbowing Carmilla in the jaw along the way, or stretching out her sore muscles the morning after, she looked good doing it all. 

Laura sauntered over to the bathroom for a shower, poking her head back out to ask, “You coming?”

—

After taking the last bite of her apple, Danny tossed the core into a nearby trash can. She dusted off her hands as she continued walking through the courtyard.

“Nice throw.” LaFontaine praised, their hand intertwined with Perry’s. “Check that out.” They nodded toward the Dean’s office in the distance. Several police cars were parked on the grass just outside of it. One of the officers could be seen scratching his head and shrugging. “I guess we don’t need to wonder what they found in there.”

Perry scoffed. “Someone _died_.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And we know who killed her. We should say something.”

“No!” Danny stopped. The pair of friends-turned-lovebirds turned back to face her. “Those cops over there? Those’ll be the last ones that we see around here for a long time. Do you know who you have to thank for that?”

“You?” LaFontaine guessed.

“ _Carmilla_ , and her brother Will. And Laura.” Danny shrugged. “And I guess me too.”

“Danny, you’ve got to stop selling yourself short.” They pleaded. “I saw you out there yesterday. You were totally a badass.”

She sighed heavily. “All I did was keep my mouth shut. Literally.”

“You saved Laura’s life.” They pointed out. “You stopped that creepy disco ball from tearing her to shreds, she said so herself. You helped save Perry’s life. And mine, too.”

“I should have done more.” She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. “Too many people died.”

“ _You_ feel guilty?” Perry cut in. “How would you like to wake up and be told that three people died to feed the parasite that’s been latched on to your brain the past few weeks? The day I came back to campus early, I still had holiday decorations up. In a week, it’ll be _Spring Break_. I spent half a semester as a walking puppet and I have no memory of it!”

Danny stammered. “Uh…well, none of that was your fault.”

LaFontaine squeezed Perry’s hand reassuringly before directing their attention back to Danny. “None of it was your fault either.”

—

Laura watched Carmilla read while she brushed the wet tangles from her hair. Midterms were fast approaching, and she really needed to study, but she was having a hard time focusing on anything other than her roommate. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. She didn’t really know where things stood between them. They were friends that liked each other, that much had been made perfectly clear, but were they more than that? Did Carmilla want to be more than that? Had their night together merely been a heat of the moment release? A ‘we just saved the campus and freed you from your manipulative faux mom’ celebration?

No. There had to be more.

“Carm?” Laura sat down the brush and warily waited for the vampire to bookmark her page.

“Yeah?” Carmilla raised a quizzical brow.

“I was wondering…”

“Spit it out, Cupcake.”

“What are we?” She blurted. “Like, I know we’re roommates, and I know we’re friends, and I know we have a mutual understanding that we’re two people that _like_ each other, but what are we?” Her cheeks grew red.

Carmilla dropped her book and crossed the room. She leaned down, one of fingers reaching out to caress the cast on Laura’s wrist. It had a few fading names signed on it, including her own. Laura had insisted that she sign it big letters. “We can be whatever we want to be. I’ll admit, it’s been quite some time since I’ve been in a committed relationship…but I’d be willing to commit to you.”

Laura felt her heart swell with joy. “I know we still have a lot to learn about each other, but this just feels so _right_ , don’t you think?”

“It feels right.” Carmilla agreed before sweeping down for a kiss.

“So, it’s official then?” Laura asked, trying not to let how close Carmilla was distract her. “You’re my girlfriend, I’m your girlfriend. We’re together. Just the two of us. No random blondes in my bed?”

“Just the two of us.” She kissed the tip of Laura’s nose. “Girlfriends.” A kiss on her cheek. “Together.” On her jaw. “No blondes.” Just below her ear. “Unless we feel like sharing one.”

Laura laughed and playfully pushed her away. “Easy, you randy vampire. No more _fun time_ until we get some studying done.”

A seductive glint shined in her eye. “Why don’t we have some _fun time_ while you study? I can reward you every time you get a question right. A little positive reinforcement can go a long way, you know.”

Laura giggled as Carmilla kissed a sensitive spot on her neck. “I guess there’s no harm in trying.”

—

Danny sat in bed staring at her roommate’s alarm clock. 11:39PM. She contemplated moving the clock to her side of the room. It wouldn’t be missed if she did. She couldn’t remember the last time she actually saw her roommate. One of the great things about sharing a room with someone madly devoted to their thirty year old boyfriend meant never having to see them.

A few textbooks were scattered around her, but she hadn’t touched any of them in over an hour. She could barely remember what classes she was even enrolled in, no amount of last minute studying was going to save her now.

A familiar scent drew her attention to the door. Moments later, she heard footsteps approach followed by a polite knock.

“It’s open.” She announced.

Carmilla slipped inside. She took in the room as she closed the door behind herself. “Nice place.”

Danny looked around. “It doesn’t even feel like mine anymore.”

Carmilla walked around, eyeing her roommate’s collection of vinyl albums. “You could move into the cabin, if that would be better.”

“You’d give me your cabin?”

“It’s not mine. Not really. I just use it. It belonged to the old Silas groundskeeper.”

“How was one guy supposed to keep up with this huge campus?”

“He worked around the clock.” Carmilla smirked. “Werewolves have a bad habit of doing that.”

Danny’s brows raised in surprise. “Silas employed a werewolf?”

“The humans didn’t know what he was.” She explained. “And he made sure to steer clear of the Dean. She knew there was a wolf in the woods, but she didn’t know it was him.”

“What happened to him?”

“Mother requested that he be taken care.”

Danny gaped at her. “You killed him?”

“Of course not.” Carmilla flipped through the record collection. “I told him to hit the road.”

“Oh.” Her eyes fell to her hands. She picked at the dirt beneath her nails. She’d likely never get it all out.

“It wasn’t always like that though.” Carmilla revealed as she sat at the edge of the empty bed across the room. “In the beginning, I was always too afraid to defy her commands.”

“Are you glad she’s gone?”

“Happier than I’ve been in centuries.”

Danny glanced at her. “Is that because she’s gone or because of Laura?”

Carmilla bit back her smile at the mention of Laura’s name.

Danny rolled her eyes. “I know you two are a thing. I can smell her on you.”

If she could blush, she would have. “I’m trying this new thing where I actually allow myself to be happy for a change.” She watched Danny carefully. “You should give it a try. It’s liberating.”

“I want to be happy.” Danny confessed. “I just don’t know how anymore.”

“You’re at a standstill. A fork in the road.” Carmilla shrugged. “What you’re feeling is the unshackling of human responsibility. You’ve got a choice to make. You either have to keep living the boring life of the human you once were, or you can take the path of least resistance. You have a whole new world of possibility opening up for you.” She gestured toward the window. “You could ditch town. Right now. Go live off the land and hunt for your food and maybe even find a mangy pack of wolves to call home. Or you can stay right here. You can keep going to class, keep hiding what you are, and just keep doing what you’ve always done. It’s all up to you.”

“Is that how you felt?” Danny asked quietly. “When you rose from the dead as a vampire, did you feel like you could do anything you wanted?”

“No.” Carmilla answered flatly. “Because I had someone telling me what to do. For over three hundred years, I always had someone ordering me around. But that’s how I feel right now. For the first time in my entire existence, there’s no one that I answer to.”

Danny laughed. “Like you wouldn’t do anything that Laura asked you to.”

“That’s different.” Carmilla smiled. “She’s worth it.”

—

Laura walked out of her final midterm with a content sigh. There had been a few troublesome questions, but overall she felt pretty good about it.

“Frosh!” LaFontaine’s voice had Laura searching the busy hall for them. “Laura, over here!”

Finally, she spotted them and Perry. She slowly weaved her way through the flow of traffic to them. “Hey, guys. What’s going on around here?”

Perry ran a hand through her curls. “This is the quickest shortcut to the café.”

Laura prepared herself for potential bad news. What could it be now? Another body? A sighting of a giant ginger wolf? “What’s happening in the café?”

LaFontaine led the trio away from the chaos to the courtyard. “Apparently it’s some kind of an elaborate prank involving a truly alarming quantity of pudding. I assume the Zetas are behind it.”

Perry groaned. “Must they always perform some kind of inconveniencing hoax when initiating a new member?”

On cue, Laura noticed a few Zeta boys laughing across the courtyard. Among them was Will. He gave a small salute when he noticed her.

“This is a good kind of inconvenience.” She looked back to her friends. “I’ll take an excessive amount of pudding over some bloodthirsty dark creatures any day.”

—

Carmilla plopped down on the bed, exhausted. “Oh how I’ve missed my bed.”

“That’s _my_ bed.” Laura pointed out with a chuckle. “And we were only gone for a week.”

“It was a long week.” Carmilla sighed into the yellow pillow.

Laura’s face fell. “I thought you had fun with me and my dad.”

Carmilla rolled over and pulled Laura close to her. “I did have fun. Your dad is nice.”

“But?”

“But it takes a lot of effort to listen to a guy go on and on about the dangers of bears when all I can think about is how much I want to fuck his daughter.”

Laura rolled her eyes with a smile. “Don’t even act like you weren’t totally into that conversation about bear safety. I seem to recall you asking if he could send us a heavy duty can in his next care package.”

She mirrored Laura’s smile. “That’ll be for you. For the times when I’m not by your side.”

“I can take care of myself.” Laura huffed. “I don’t always need you to protect me.”

“Not with some heavy duty bear spray, you won’t.”

—

Danny adjusted the position of her feet on the coffee table as LaFontaine played with the television antennas.

“Ah hah!” They pumped a fist into the air as the fuzzy picture improved. It wasn’t perfect, but it was doable.

“Nicely done, babe.” Perry gave them a peck on the cheek as they retook their seat between her and Danny on the couch.

LaF looked between them. “So did you two hear about Brian from the Alchemy Club? He dropped out after having a run in with some mysterious black panther. That makes four students in a row that have dropped out of Silas after seeing it. Should we be worried? Like is this some new bad thing that we have to deal with?”

“Nah.” Danny popped open a can of soda. “It’s not something to worry about.”

Laura and Carmilla emerged from the bathroom. Laura’s cheeks flushed with color as everyone turned to look at the pair of lovers.

Laura cleared her throat. “That was _some_ big bug in there. Thanks for the help, Carm.”

“My pleasure.” Carmilla smirked.

“Some bug indeed.” LaFontaine wiggled their eyebrows suggestively. “Judging by all the, uh, _noise_ , it must’ve been pretty tricky to catch.”

“Okay, okay.” Laura threw her hands. “There was no bug. We get it. Now can we please just start the movie?”

The group erupted into a fit of laughter.

—

Laura stood in the middle of Room 307. She looked around at the empty walls, the bare mattresses, the spotless floor. It hadn’t looked this clean since the day she and Betty had moved in.

“Are you going to cry?” Carmilla teased as she tossed the last of her books into a cardboard box.

“No.” Laura crossed her arms. “Maybe.”

“It’s okay to cry.” Carmilla pulled her into a warm hug. “I won’t tell.”

“Yes you will.” Laura smiled into her shoulder.

“You know me so well.” Carmilla held on a little tighter, content in their embrace.

—

“They’re doing _what_?” Perry snatched the map from LaFontaine’s hands. “Backpacking? Staying in hostels? Good Heavens, that is so unsanitary. And so unsafe!”

“They’ll be fine.” LaF waved away the concern. “Carmilla is big tough vampire, remember?”

“I try not to.” Perry handed them back the map.

They studied the red line that Laura had drawn across the map. “We could do something like this. If you wanted to.”

Perry cupped their face with both hands, demanding full eye contact. “Don’t you ever think for one second that I will go backpacking across Europe with you.” She dropped her hands but remained close. “I’ll settle for a movie night on the subject, nothing more.”

“Yeah.” LaFontaine accepted. “We’ve had enough excitement in our lives for one year. I’ll get the popcorn, you get the movies?”

Perry beamed. “Deal.”

—

Danny breathed a sigh of relief as she held the open acceptance letter. She’d actually done it. She’d actually pulled through and been accepted into her top pick for graduate school. She thought back to what Carmilla had said. About her having a choice, about the fork in the road. It had taken her the rest of the semester to figure things about, but she was happy with the decisions she’d made.

Just because she was a lone wolf, that didn’t mean she had isolate herself from the rest of the world, and it certainly didn’t mean that she had to give up the life she’d worked so hard at creating for herself. She reread the letter over again and a smile spread across her face.

Things were finally looking up.

—

With her arm around Laura’s shoulders, Carmilla looked up at the night sky and began naming the constellations.

“How do you know all of those? I’ve never even heard of half of them.” Laura said as they walked down the cobbled street.

“From centuries of staring at them.” Carmilla answered nonchalantly.

Laura looked into the closed shops as they passed by them. “What city are we in again?”

“I can’t remember.” She stopped, looking at Laura bathed in moonlight. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Don’t let the locals hear you say that.” Laura joked before pulling her in for a kiss.

“Let them hear.” Carmilla muttered against her lips. “Everyone should hear what I have to say.”

“You can be so full of yourself sometimes.” Laura laughed.

Carmilla tucked a stray lock of Laura’s hair behind her ear. “I love you.”

“Okay, yeah, everyone should hear that.” A goofy smile took hold of Laura’s face. “I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who supported this fic <3


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